I was 26 years old when I found out that I had a brain tumor. I had a 4 year old and I had recently given birth. I was at the OBGYN for her 6 week check up. My symptoms were seeing double, projectile vomiting, and headaches. I had these symptoms the entire time I was pregnant. There wasn’t anything they could do at that time and we all thought it was part of being pregnant. I was initially told that most likely I would not live through the surgery. If I did it was likely I would not walk, be paralyzed, and worse case scenario I would end up a vegetable. I am here today to tell you that none of them was the case. After a 4 year recovery I was left with no hearing in my left ear and Bells Palsy. My beautiful daughters are now 30 and 26. I have 2 wonderful grandchildren and I thank God every day that I wake to see another day. I was determined to watch my daughters grow up and see them both married. My Acoustic Neuroma was large and required a 7.5 hour surgery. It was the size of my thumb, had fingers that were entwined on the stem of my spinal cord. My acoustic nerve was then sacrificed and I lost the motor nerves to my face. A second surgery called a facial Anastomosis was performed using the nerve from my tongue in hopes that this would fix my motor nerve of my face. I am happy to report that it is 25% better than it was 26 years ago. Many thanks to Dr. Ann Stroink and God above for watching her and allowing me to stay with my girls.
