From a Lazy Eye to Brain Cancer: My Journey

A few weeks before I turned nineteen, I was sitting next to my mom. When I looked at her, she noticed my left eye wasn’t moving with my right eye, which made it look like I had a lazy eye.

The next day, after we had laughed about it because it did look funny, my mom made an appointment with a neuro-ophthalmologist. We went to see him on a busy Saturday. After checking my eye, he asked us to come back on another day when he had more time for tests.

About two weeks later, my mom and I went to his other office. He checked my eye again and asked if I had any double vision recently. I realized I had. He explained that my eye problem, called sixth cranial nerve palsy, could be due to an infection or, rarely, a brain tumor. He ordered a chest x-ray, blood tests, and a head MRI.

The blood tests and chest x-ray were fine. Going into my MRI, my mom was hopeful, but I felt like it was something serious. After the MRI, we had lunch and were feeling good. When we got home, I started working on my online classes (thanks, 2020). A few hours later, my mom rushed into my room, very upset, and told me to come to the phone.

My doctor was on the line. He told me there was a mass in my brain pressing on my sixth cranial nerve. He thought it was a rare form of bone cancer in my brain called chordoma. I was diagnosed two days after my nineteenth birthday.

Since then, my diagnosis was confirmed, and I had surgery to remove the tumor. I had many complications, like infections and brain fluid leaks, but I made it through. About 5–10% of the tumor was left, so I had proton radiation therapy to kill the rest. In a few weeks, I will have been in partial remission for a year 🙂 I also had eye surgery about ten months ago to fix my eye, which had been stuck looking inward since my first surgery. Since then, I’ve had other issues from my tumor and treatment, like chronic nerve pain, Hashimoto’s disease, and hypothyroidism, but I have a great team of doctors helping me.

I was a freshman in college when I was diagnosed, and now I’m going to be a junior. I’m studying psychology and music, and I take part in my college’s choirs, theater productions, and student life team. In the future, I hope to get a Master’s degree in mental health counseling and work as a therapist for young people with disabilities, rare diseases, and cancer. I would also love to perform professionally in my city’s symphony orchestra/choir and maybe even audition for America’s Got Talent.

I thank the Lord for all that he has done for me<3

Story credit: Psychology student Olivia DeJong