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Well,
for me, this ordeal called "brain tumor" started
shortly after my sophomore year of high school during the
summer. O.K., you know how you go to sleep to get rid of headaches?
Well, I was waking up with them. At first, it was about every-other
day I would wake up with a headache. Then, after about a week,
I began to wake up every day with a pretty bad headache. I
would call my mom, who works at the hospital, and tell her
about these awful headaches, and she would tell me to take
some aspirin or Tylenol, and by the middle of the day I was
fine. But then on Sunday, June 16th, 2002, which also happened
to be father's day, I woke up to get dressed for church and
began to vomit because of the severe headache. My mom told
me to just throw on some clothes, that we were going to the
emergency room. My Mom was ready to ask for some antibiotics
because we thought that I just had sinus-sinus because I had
just gotten over an ear infection and cold the week before.
However, they ran me through a cat scan and put me in a waiting
room. We weren't expecting anything like what we were about
to hear.
The doctor came
back into the room with the most sober look and told me that
I had a brain tumor in the fluid passage way of the brain.
He said that our only option was emergency surgery at Duke
hospital in Durham. (The doctors told me that if I didn't
do anything about the headaches I was having, I might not
have woke up the next morning alive. You don't know how happy
I am to wake up and see each new day, even if it's raining
cats and dogs.
So we told my
brother and my dad to go home and pack up some clothes to
bring to Duke. They then loaded me and my mom onto an ambulance
from the emergency room and sent us on a three hour trip to
Duke.
When we arrived
at Duke, I had an MRI which was much more precise than the
cat scan. It revealed that the surgery wasn't as urgent as
previously thought, so my surgery was delayed until the following
Tuesday. That Tuesday morning, I underwent brain surgery in
which the doctors confirmed their statement that my brain
tumor was benign, or non-cancerous. I then was put in a study
group for this new kind of chemotherapy in which my chemo
was given in pill form (Temodar). I was required to take the
chemo for a full year. Even though it was by mouth, the chemo
still made you feel the same as any other chemo, which is
like the worst virus you have ever had, and to make it worse,
you were basically guaranteed to have this "virus"
every three weeks. Throughout my chemo protocol, I was required
to go to Duke about every two months to have an MRI and doctors
appointment.
Throughout the
whole year of chemo, I gave my testimony to several different
churches about how God has been blessing me through this seemingly
bad thing known as a brain tumor. My uncle's church anointed
me with oil and prayed for healing over me. In addition, I
was on several churches prayer lists. But through all this,
my brain tumor didn't shrink. This bothered me and my family,
because it says in the bible to pray for healing and to expect
it. My mom got frustrated, because God wasn't healing her
baby boy. But then it hit me like a lightning bolt: God doesn't
work by our time, but by His. I told my mom this many times,
and I think it gave her comfort.
When I finally
finished my year of chemo, I went to Duke for my end of course
MRI and check up. The doctors said that since the brain tumor
was stable all year, that I had two choices: I could take
six more months of chemo as a kind of booster shot to say
"just in case," or never take it again as long as
the brain tumor stayed stable. I asked for a few days to think
about it and talk it over with my family and God. All the
doctors I saw at Duke and all the doctors that I saw in Asheville
told me to go ahead and take the six more months. But I started
thinking: "wouldn't that be a slap in the face to God
if I had prayed to him for healing but took the six more month
of chemo to say just in case you don 't heal me, I'll take
this." So against the judgment of all my doctors, I said
no, I wouldn't take the extra chemo. I went out on faith,
that God was still working in me.
Just about two
months ago, I went for my three month post-chemo check up
at Duke. The same procedure as usual: the MRI and doctors
appointment. After the MRI, the doctor walked into the room
with the biggest smile on his face. His first words were:
"you made the right decision." He told us that the
tumor had shrunk thirty percent in just those three months.
He said that " that was the most shrinkage they had ever
seen off chemo," and to tell us the truth, they couldn't
explain what had caused it to shrink so much. I then kinda
smirked and turned to mom and dad, who were speechless and
crying, and said "I know what did it!"
When we came back
to Asheville after my surgery, my doctors suggested that we
find a support group to join to help us with any questions
or problems that we might encounter. That's when my mom found
out about Western North Carolina Brain Tumor Support which
is a small close-knit support group for brain tumor survivors
and their families. Me and mom decided to try it out and found
that they were the most loving, and supportive, and understanding
people. We have had several doctors, a psychiatrist, and even
a mental rehabilitation director come and speak to the group
to help educate us on medicines, and memory skills. If I were
to meet another brain tumor survivor that lived locally, I
would definitely suggest joining our group not only for support,
but also for a loving Christian family who knows what that
person has been through, and can help them along the path.
And well, that
has been my life so far along this journey called "brain
tumor". Now, as I am about to finish my senior year of
high school, I look back at my life as a whole, and thank
God for every day that I awake to see this beautiful Earth
he created, and my loving friends and family who have always
been there for me, and my wish for you is that you will be
able to find this same peace and joy in every-day life whether
it is sunny, or rainy, when you wake up.
God Bless,
Matthew
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WNC
BTS Survivor Stories -
