My Michael

My family’s lives changed totally in February 2022.

On Friday, Feb. 11, my husband Michael woke up complaining of a severe headache. I took him to the ER, and they immediately did a CT scan that showed a tumor on the left side of his brain. We live on Martha’s Vineyard, and our hospital doesn’t have an MRI machine so considering that and his symptoms, he was airlifted by MedLife to MassGeneral in Boston. He arrived on Friday, and Monday morning he was headed to surgery to remove the tumor. Surgery was successful, but we didn’t know the diagnosis until we were at home, several days later. He had a grade 4 glioblastoma on the occipital lobe of his brain. He chose not to go through chemotherapy and radiation, and he died on June 9, 2023, a few days short of four months.

Michael was always a very loving, compassionate, and intelligent man. Sometime around October or early November, he began to change. He complained of being tired all the time. He said, “A kind of tired that’s not cured by a nap.” He was also very critical of people and situations that never bothered him before. He complained that his vision was getting worse even though he had been to the optometrist 6 months earlier. We were married for 48.5 years and he was the one and only love of my life! We have two sons, and they both helped take care of him daily! I hate cancer!!!!!

TAGGED WITH: #GBMDay

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