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charlene's story ::: glioblastoma brain tumor
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"I used to make a lot of fuss about my hair. I’d complain, ‘Oh my hair won’t do anything.’ I couldn’t stand my hair. And then Jesus said, ‘I’ll let you go bald for a year. Then you’ll like what I give you."
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Charlene marked her seven-year survivorship of glioblastoma multiforme in March 2012 with two significant events. The first was the return of her tumor, a difficult cancer whose potency can never be overestimated. The second was the successful surgical removal of the recurrent cancer by her Mayfield Clinic and University of Cincinnati Brain Tumor Center team. "They told me the risks before surgery," Charlene recalls. "They said I could have a heart attack or become paralyzed. But except for fatigue, I don't have a single side effect. With the help of the Lord, I made it through. " Charlene's surgery for recurrent glioblastoma was performed by Ronald Warnick, MD, Medical Director of the UC Brain Tumor Center and Chairman of the Mayfield Clinic, and cerebrovascular specialist Mario Zuccarello, MD, the Frank H. Mayfield Professor and Chairman of the UC Department of Neurosurgery. Her follow-up care includes radiation treatments at the UC Barrett Cancer Center and chemotherapy. Charlene's battle against glioblastoma began on March 4, 2005. "I was at a friend's house," Charlene recalls. "I had a really bad headache, like someone was squeezing my head. I left my friend's home and threw up. I got disoriented." Charlene's daughter whisked her to the emergency room at Ft. Hamilton (Ohio) Hospital, where doctors interpreted her disorientation, or "transient numbness," as a seizure and ordered a brain scan. She was given bad news – she had a brain tumor – and was referred immediately to Arthur Arand, MD, a neurosurgeon at the Mayfield Clinic. Six days later, Charlene underwent surgery at Mercy Hospital Fairfield in suburban Cincinnati. Dr. Arand opened her skull in a procedure called a craniotomy. He then removed the tumor, which was in a "non-eloquent" area on the right side of her brain – an area of the brain that Charlene did not use when speaking, thinking, or moving around. "We were able to completely remove it, along with an adequate margin of tissue around it," Dr. Arand says. "To be able to remove an adequate margin around the tumor was very advantageous." Charlene was quick to say she had been blessed. Her tumor was found earlier than most; it was located in a part of her brain that was easy for her surgeon to reach; and it was in a part of her brain that was not associated with speech or movement. Nevertheless, the tumor could not be taken lightly. Its name alone packed a punch. A pathologist confirmed that the tumor was a glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive cancer that tends to recur and is difficult to treat. To help keep the tumor from coming back, Dr. Arand had lined the tumor cavity with nickel-sized chemotherapy wafers, which deliver a steady dose of chemotherapy over a period of two to three weeks after implantation. The wafers are intended to kill off any tumor cells that might have been left behind. Charlene's surgery was followed up with radiation and oral chemotherapy treatments overseen by Ralph Wright, MD, and Evan Lang, MD, of Oncology/Hematology Care, Inc., at Ft. Hamilton Hospital. Her mother gave her strength – "You're not going to die" – and she drew heavily on her faith. "I never moped around saying ‘poor me,' "Charlene says. "I have Jesus, and I had a lot of faith in my doctors. They were wonderful to me. They never gave me false hope, but they never gave me no hope. You have to have faith in the Lord, faith in your doctors, and faith in yourself. If you don't have faith in yourself, you can't get through this because it's a tough road." In keeping with her positive outlook, she even made peace with her hair, which had always had a mind of its own and which grew back with a wave following her first radiation treatments. Charlene adhered to regular followup monitoring with Dr. Warnick at Mayfield's University Pointe offices in West Chester, Ohio. When she became a five-year survivor of glioblastoma multiforme, she had reached a notable landmark.
But as she approached the seventh anniversary of her diagnosis, Charlene became ill, so weak that she couldn't put on a shoe. Dr. Lang ordered an MRI and told her the cancer had returned. This time, however, the tumor was embedded in the back of her brain and not as easy to reach. At that point, the UC Brain Tumor Center team went to work. Neuroradiologists fused multiple types of brain scans and then installed the data into a surgical guidance computer, whose function is similar to a global positioning system. By revealing the tumor's relationship to all of the functional centers, electrical pathways, and arteries and veins in Charlene's brain, the computers enabled Drs. Warnick and Zuccarello to reach the cancer and remove it without harming her. Charlene is certain another individual was in the room with her as well. "God is good," she says. "When I was in surgery, Jesus was there with me. If I could have, I would have reached out and touched him." A former cardiology tech, phlebotomist, and nursing assistant, Charlene lives at home with family members. Every morning she says a prayer and tells herself, "I'll live and not die." She also keeps Dr. Arand's philosophical advice close to her heart. "Dr. Arand said, ‘Live each day to the fullest,' and that's exactly what I try to do."
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