Marti
"As a nurse, cancer survivor and widow, I know about the difficulty of treating a brain tumor."

When I was diagnosed with a metastatic brain tumor, I was terrified. Ten years ago, I had watched my husband battle a metastatic brain tumor and knew about the long length of treatment and the high probability of side effects of whole head radiation. My team of doctors discussed GliaSite as a treatment opportunity for me and I was fortunate to be a candidate for GliaSite. During the time of the removal of a 4 cm temporal lobe tumor, my neurosurgeon inserted the GliaSite balloon catheter. After recovering for a brief time from the surgery, I entered the hospital to receive a radiation injection into the balloon. The procedure was easy and I rested comfortably in the hospital for 3 days after the injection. I opted to have the balloon removed immediately after treatment was over. It was a brief surgery compared to my previous surgery. I emerged from the surgery and radiation without any loss of body functions. My recovery consisted of healing from the surgery alone! I am a walking miracle and am blessed to have the opportunity for the forward thinking treatment of GliaSite. This treatment gave me hope and courage to live fully!

Pat
"I'm thankful for my doctors, the care they gave me and their use of a cutting-edge treatment."

When I was diagnosed with brain cancer, I didn't know what to expect from my treatment and as a busy consultant, I'd never expected such a diagnosis. My doctors suggested that I receive radiation with GliaSite, which I'm happy to say went extremely well. Following the surgery to remove my brain tumor, I was implanted with the GliaSite balloon-tipped catheter. My radiation treatments took several days, which were spent in the hospital, reading, seeing visitors and generally trying to entertain myself.

I'm hoping that this treatment will stave off my aggressive tumor, so I'll have more time with my family and friends. I'm feeling good now and I felt good throughout the treatment, with my biggest complaint being loss of some of my energy. I found the treatment to be appealing because it did not disturb healthy brain tissue, and only radiated the area immediately surrounding the site of my tumor. I would recommend this treatment to other appropriate brain cancer patients.

Tracy
A few weeks ago I had a birthday. Looking back on my 36 years of life, I know I have much to be thankful for. I have a wonderful husband, good friends, and a supportive and loving family…I am also more than two years out since treatment for my brain tumor.

My experience with brain cancer has taxed my faith and my resolve but ultimately, I’ve emerged stronger and with a refreshed sense of purpose. I’m more active today than I was the day I was diagnosed as I have every intention of living my precious life to its fullest. When I was first diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 2001, I immediately went through the frightening surgery to remove the tumor. I was then scheduled to begin a series of external beam radiation treatments a month after my surgery, allowing sufficient time for recovery.

To my horror and to the shock of my physicians, in just three and a half weeks—even before I could begin radiation treatment—my tumor had grown back, to 70 percent of its original size. Apparently, my spindle cell sarcoma is known as being extremely aggressive. I remember being in my doctor’s office, my left foot paralyzed, knowing that the tumor had re-grown and was continuing its attack. The news he gave me that day was a shocking affirmation of what my body had already been telling me.

I had truly hit a low point, knowing from my doctors that the tumor’s "tentacles" made regrowth a strong possibility and that standard treatment options offered a still bleak prognosis. I prayed and sought answers from my doctors on how I could possibly beat a tumor so defiant. They wanted to try a new treatment on me, called GliaSite, something of which I had never heard. The treatment they described would involve the removal of my tumor, as it had been done earlier, and during the surgical procedure, they would implant a catheter with a balloon at its tip. The balloon would be filled with a form of radioactive iodine which would treat the area abutting the empty site of my tumor, where tiny remnants of the cancer could remain after the surgical removal of the tumor, and which could re-grow into the monster that had paralyzed me. At the time, this procedure was very new and had been available to patients for only a month.

After discussions with my team of expert physicians and my family, I decided that this radiation therapy system seemed like something I wanted to try. I had my tumor removed on June 1, 2001, and at that time had a small device implanted into the cavity where the tumor had developed, now twice. The doctors allowed me a brief recovery period before they filled the balloon with the liquid radiation source to begin my radiation treatment. For four days, I stayed in the hospital.

During this time, I sat in the hospital bed and read and watched TV to try to overcome the boredom which was my biggest complaint. Knowing the severity of the state of my health, being confined to a hospital room was tough to take. I had good people around me though and my family was allowed to visit.

After four days, the liquid and catheter were removed and I was sent home. Due to my physicians’ concern that the cancerous cells may have spread throughout my body, I was prescribed chemotherapy, steroids and more radiation delivered externally. Knowing that the type of tumor I had was so diabolical, I accepted every treatment I was prescribed as another chance to live, and as something I would have to get through in order to beat the odds and force the cancer to remit.

Still, the next treatments were hard for me to bear. The steroids gave me acne and swelling. My neck looked like a pelican and I needed to buy clothes with elastic rather than buttons or zippers. I was on anti-depressants to help me deal with the physical and emotional changes. I was fatigued and nauseous but wanted, more than anything, to have a clear scan. That hope, combined with the overwhelming support and encouragement from my family, friends and church, gave me the strength to continue with the treatments and so that one day I may be rid of the cancer.

As I reflect back on it now, it has all been worth it. On June 1, 2003, I celebrated the two-year anniversary of my treatment. My last MRI was clear, and showed NO REGROWTH OF THE TUMOR. In fact, it showed that brain tissue, healthy brain tissue, had begun to grow back where the tumor resection cavity existed. The GliaSite procedure, now available at more than 100 centers nationwide, I feel truly gave me a new lease on life. Many patients with my type of brain tumor do not live half as long as I have. I know I was very lucky that GliaSite came along. I also know that it was not just luck, but knowledge that helped me make such an important treatment decision. I learned that, as a cancer patient, my greatest asset is information and education – that in order to beat the cancer, I needed to know everything I could about it and all of the treatments available.

Today, I am back at work, enjoying my job at our family-owned day care center. As I play with the children I feel like I too have my whole life ahead of me.

About the author:
Tracy, 36, resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband, Peter.