Thomas with his father Michael

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Thomas's Story

In March 2012, I was on a business trip to London, when the phone rang at about 2:00 AM. It was my son, Michael, calling to tell me about my other son, Thomas who had experienced a serious seizure. The doctors discovered that Thomas had a large mass on his brain in his left temporal lobe. As the words sank in, I was in disbelief and I fell to the ground trembling in fear and not really understanding what I had just been told. I was 4,000 miles away from home.

Once I finally got to Thomas’s bedside he seemed OK, but the diagnosis was far from clear. He was first taken to a small community hospital that simply was not able to diagnose his problem. At that point a colleague of mine helped to make sure that Thomas was sent to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Saint Petersburg Florida where a full service pediatric neuro-oncology unit could fully evaluate and diagnose Thomas’s tumor. Thomas went through days of test and weeks in the hospital while every aspect of his physiology was poked, prodded and examined.

After all of the examinations were complete, the diagnosis really was not very good. Although Thomas’s tumor seemed to be a low-grade cancer, it was positioned 1mm from the area of the brain that allows a person to speak and to interpret the speech and communication of others. The doctors told us that if the tumor grew even a single millimeter it would be inoperable. As it was, the tumor was such that any slip in surgery could have left Thomas without the ability to communicate or even understand the communication of other people.

The surgical team at Johns Hopkins Children’s was confident that they could conduct a successful surgery but they were honest with us when they told us that due to the complexity and delicate nature of Thomas’s tumor they were afraid to operate because they did not have an interoperative MRI to help guide the operation. Luckily, my colleague was able to assist again, and we were able to get Thomas transferred to MD Anderson and in the care of brain surgeon Dr. Syed Shabaz Azeem for the necessary operation.

Dr. Azeem is an amazing man and an amazing surgeon. He explained in great detail how the surgery would go and the steps they would take avoid the delicate areas of Thomas’s brain. Dr. Azeem and Thomas agreed that he would stay awake for the entire surgery so that Dr. Azeem could check his function throughout the surgical process.

Now Thomas is nine months post operative. We recently took a trip to MD Anderson for a follow-up with oncology and I am happy to report that there is absolutely no sign of cancer in Thomas’s body and longer and no sign of tumor re-growth.
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Climbing Over Cancer

Just before going into surgery, Thomas and I were talking. Several years ago in 2005 I had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania as an adventure. Thomas had always wanted to climb the mountain and he always loved hearing the stories about Africa. While he was lying there he asked me if he came through the surgery and beat the brain tumor whether we could do the climb together as sort of a victory lap over cancer. What parent could turn down such a heartfelt and honest and hopeful request? Of course, I agreed.

So now it is time for me to make good on my promise. I hope you will support Thomas and I as we aim to raise $19,341 in support of the National Brain Tumor Society - one dollar for every foot we are climbing to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. We will stand on the Roof of Africa together to show Thomas and to show the world that brain tumors and cancer can be overcome.

Proceeds from this campaign will help to fund NBTS's Pediatric Research Program. Through this initiative, NBTS is bringing the highest level of attention to this understudied, underfunded, and critical area of research. To learn more about the National Brain Tumor Society's Pediatric Research Program, please visit http://www.braintumor.org/research/research-initiatives/pediatric-research.html

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Support Us

Please join me in the fight against brain tumors by making a donation to my fundraising campaign to support the National Brain Tumor Society.