A Tale of Two Tumors

My diagnosis with brain cancer, a glioblastoma, came after a small seizure in December 2015. Three months later my 23 year old son Trevor learned he also had brain cancer, grade 3 astrocytoma, when he had a severe seizure. My diagnosis was shocking and scary but when we learned that Trevor had brain cancer the whole world seemed wrong, like some kind of horrible dream. It’s not fair to get cancer in middle age, but it’s really really not fair to get a terrible cancer at 23 when you have just graduated from college, ready to start ‘real life’. Eventually our family adjusted as best we could. What else can you do?

Trevor is almost done with the standard of care chemotherapy and I have been in a clinical trial with an immunotherapy drug from the beginning. We both had great surgeries at Brigham and Women’s and now are seen by an amazing team at Dana Farber. Trevor had a left side paralysis after his surgery that he almost completely recovered from with hard physical therapy work. For the most part it has been smooth sailing, but we know that can change and change quickly. We both have MRI’s coming up which leave us a little unsettled and hyper aware of any possible symptoms that our tumors might be back. So we will cross our fingers, hope for good MRI’s , appreciate our amazing medical care, and be grateful for our family that is there for us on good days and bad.

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