A year ago, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The tumor was found incidentally after going to the ER for seizures. After the scan, they thought it was a brain cyst, and life went on. A few months later, I had two more seizures back to back and had another scan. They found it had slightly grown, and I was told I have a tumor. After that, I had a biopsy, which was my first major surgery. Everything went as planned.
Then I had my removal craniotomy in my left temporal lobe. It was a gross total resection (GTR) in which they removed 97% of the tumor. The recovery went very smoothly, and I was back at work in a month.
I became slightly depressed and started to feel like my life had little purpose. That’s when I got the idea to set out on this journey to help show others that they can still live their life to the fullest! It hit my family hard, but I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. At first, I was afraid to tell my friends because I didn’t want to be known as the 24-year-old with cancer. Little did I know that everyone would be so supportive, and I learned that I was afraid of telling people for nothing. Having a good support group around me was essential.
Now I’ve decided to show that your diagnosis doesn’t define you! My goal is to spread cancer awareness, in particular brain tumor awareness, while climbing the highest point of each U.S. state.
The mental state that this diagnosis can put you and those who care about you in. At first it was a real trying time and of course it sucks. But you cannot let it keep you down for long because at the end of the day, you will regret not doing more while you still could. And that goes for every aspect of life, cancer-related or not.
