Cancer Sucks, But I Do Not

My brain tumor story started shortly after I gave birth to my daughter, Brooklyn, in February 2023 — although, I didn’t know it at the time. Two months after giving birth, I woke up one day and started limping. I wasn’t quite sure what it was from, maybe giving birth to the epidural I had. I put off getting it checked out until September 2023. 

From there, the doctor was quite concerned and had a rush magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. The MRI showed a half-dollar-sized spot on my brain that was sitting on my motor cortex. Thankfully, I never had any of the typical brain tumor symptoms like headaches, seizures, cognitive impairments, blurred vision, or speech problems until the limping started.

That’s when my life and my family’s life changed for good. No one, especially a 29-year-old brand new mother, expects to be admitted to the hospital for a brain tumor they find due to limping.

On October 19, 2023, at age 29, I had my first brain surgery to remove the tumor from my left frontal lobe. Shortly afterward, I learned I had a type of cancerous brain tumor called anaplastic oligodendroglioma. Although it stunk to get this diagnosis, there was a silver lining. My tumor contained a deleted chromosome 1P/19q, which made it more susceptible to treatment.

I started proton radiation therapy at Georgetown University in January and completed 33 treatments. I had a one-month break before starting oral chemotherapy of two drugs, CCNU and Procarbazine, for five months. During this time, I visited my oncologist after every cycle for check-ups, MRIs, and bloodwork.

In July 2024, my oncologist recommended that I stop the chemotherapy. It was taking a hit on my body. I completed three cycles, each cycle lasting 42 days.

During my treatments, I experienced some nausea from chemotherapy. I lost feeling in the right side of my body for almost three weeks following my brain surgery and had brain swelling from radiation. After my treatments finished, I was often tired, and it took over a year for me to feel like I had all my energy back and to feel like myself again.

Currently, I am doing intense physical and occupational therapy at Walter Reed Hospital to regain my strength back on my right side and continue working on my right foot drop.

TAGGED WITH: Oligodendroglioma

Opinions expressed within this story belong solely to the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of the National Brain Tumor Society.