Six years ago my family’s world came to an abrupt halt. Our son Dallas was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor called a Medulloblastoma. Six hours of surgery, two weeks in intensive care and two months in a rehabilitation hospital were the start of a very long journey for our family. Dallas has had to …
My whole family had been involved in pediatric brain tumor charities for over nine years, not because we ever had any first hand experience with the disease, but because it seemed like a compelling, worthwhile cause. Last May, this compelling cause became the center of our world. My three-year-old son, Ethan, had suddenly become very …
My roommates are great, pretty much everybody gets along and we are always out doing something in the city. I’m working at McFadden’s Bar & Grill. (I’m the guy carrying around cases of beer, taking out the garbage, cleaning the dirty glasses and pretty much whatever else rolls down my way.) Actually, the job is …
For all of you who do not know me, my name is Michael Schoenfeld and I am twenty-one-years old and an eleven-year cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in 1990 with a medulloblastoma in the cerebellum of my brain. I received radiation and chemotherapy and finished my last chemotherapy in 1993. I have been cancer-free for …
By Cynthia Richardson My son, Eric, is a survivor of a brainstem tumor. I share my story to tell you that there is hope in battling this terrible disease. Eric, my first born son was diagnosed with a brainstem tumor at age two. At age twenty months he began losing weight, could not chew food …
by Lisa Genatossio, Mom to Vanessa, age 16 After the age of three, Vanessa really started slowing down in growth. Soon her younger sister caught up to her and then grew taller than her. They were wearing the same size clothes and for a while I was dressing them as if they were twins. Then …
Lazarus (1993) defines “coping as a process,” which encompasses “ongoing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific demands that tax the resources of a person.” In relation to life-threatening illness, Taylor (1989) asserts, “coping that enhances and focuses on the positive is important for maintenance of health.” My diagnosis with two brain tumors thirteen years …
