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Surviving a brain tumor
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Miracle Matthew 11cm by 7cm Tumor
At age five my son Matthew was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. We only found out about the tumor because of a seizure. Matthew had no neurological problems, just a typical kid. His tumor was massive measuring 11cm by 7cm and his brain stem was moved over by 15mm. Matthew sat in ICU for six days before surgery. Matthew had brain surgery on July 3, 2007. The surgery was a success, the entire tumor was removed. Matthew spoke and moved all his limbs right after surgery, he shocked all the doctors and nurses who were convinced he would come back different. His first question immediately after surgery was, "Where are my underpants?" Matthew has always been very sharp. No one could understand how a child with such a massive tumor could be talking right after a six plus hour surgery. The surgeon was convinced it was not malignant, the tumor appeared seperate from the brain all though it consumed the space that should have been his temporal lobe. The pathology told a different story, areas of the tumor appeared malignant and they had no idea what type of cell type the tumor started from. The tumor was sent to the best pathologists in the country, no one could figure it out. Matthew basically had a mystery tumor! Because of his strange tumor we decided to leave our home in California and travel to MD Anderson in Houston, Texas, one of the best cancer hospitals in the country. While in Houston Matthew started chemo therapy and had six weeks of Proton Radiation. Matthew is currently still on chemotherapy. Matthew has been perfectly healthy through this entire experience, except for the occassional vomit from chemo. Just today he was running through the hospital, no one would ever guess he had a malignant tumor less than a year ago. All of his MRI's to this point have shown no signs of cancer/return of the tumor. We thank God everyday for our Miracle Matthew, he is charting his own course and we believe he has a bright future ahead. check out Matthew's website: www.caringbridge.org/visit/matthewrager
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