In 2005, a man diagnosed with a rare brain tumor and given a year to live is still alive today, eighteen years later.
The now 30-year-old individual, residing in Nashville, Tennessee, shared his experience on Reddit, revealing that doctors had predicted he would survive for only a year or two, even with surgery and treatment.
The anonymous man mentioned that he was granted his last wish by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which took his family to Hawaii for a vacation.
He is a cancer survivor who is married with two children and currently works at the same hospital where he received his diagnosis and treatment as a child.
The man, who shared his story on the online forum, revealed that he was diagnosed with pilomyxoid astrocytoma as a child in 2005.
This type of cancer is typically found in very young children and has a low survival rate. According to a study published in the journal Medscape General Medicine in 2004, the average age of diagnosis for this aggressive cancer is 18 months.
Symptoms of developmental delay, vomiting, feeding difficulties, and weakness, along with neck stiffness or a head tilt, are indicators of pilomyxoid astrocytoma.
The man, who goes by the username SilentWalrus92, shared that his primary symptom was feeling unwell, which doctors initially diagnosed as a stomach bug. However, after his parents took him to the emergency department, a scan revealed that he had a brain tumor.
He underwent surgery, which is typically the first line of treatment for cancer, aiming to remove as much of the tumor as possible, followed by radiation therapy to eliminate any remaining tumor tissue.
Man told he had year to live aged 12 reaches 30
by u/SilentWalrus92 in UpliftingNews
After receiving treatment, he developed mild short-term memory loss, which makes it challenging for him to recall people’s names or what he ate.
He was granted his final wish, a family trip to Maui, Hawaii, through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with the expectation that he would not survive longer than two years.
Contrary to doctors’ expectations, the man has survived for nearly two decades. He explained that his medical team had given him an inaccurate prognosis because he was one of only four people worldwide diagnosed with the cancer in 2005.
He added that the other three individuals with the same diagnosis had lived for only about a year or two after their tumor was detected.
The man said: ‘Doctors had no idea why my surgery and treatment was so successful.
He shared that the hospital sent his tumor for research, and he received regular MRI scans every year until recently when he completed his final MRI check-up this year.
The man now works at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, where he received his treatment as a child, and actively coordinates charity fundraisers for children with cancer.
Despite his success in battling cancer, the man still experiences memory issues and must keep a small notebook to jot down important things to remember.
He shared that he never received a definitive “you are cancer-free” confirmation. Instead, he underwent yearly brain scans for the past 18 years to ensure that the tumor did not start growing again.
Only recently, his doctor expressed confidence in stopping the brain scans.
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