TRAVERSE CITY -- David King pointed out the side of his head with the scar, a curving, cruel-looking reminder of the fight he is waging.
One year ago, the Traverse City man joined the legions living with a brain tumor diagnosis.
"I think brain tumors have the most devastating affect on people," said Dr. Jeffrey Raizer, a neurologist with Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill. "Your brain is who you are. If you lose that or parts of it, your functions go down."
More than 120 types of brain tumors exist, and this year, 44,865 cases of primary brain tumors are anticipated to be diagnosed, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. It funded more than $2 million in research in 2007.
Seizures are a common brain tumor symptom, as well as "personality or cognitive changes" such as depression, paralysis on one side, double vision, headaches and nausea, said Raizer. Survival rates for a malignant tumor depend on how aggressive it is. For some, it might be 12 months; patients with "low-grade tumors" can live "an average of seven years," he said.
Raizer recommends brain tumor patients go to a neuro-oncologist, seek "a second opinion from a major center" and look for clinical trials.
Sen. Edward Kennedy's revelation in May of a cancerous brain tumor sparked a brief flurry of interest in brain tumors, which "don't get that much attention," Raizer said.
"He's the most high-profile person that ever got a brain tumor. That may be some way that will significantly increase research dollars," he said.
Demanding answers
David King, 41, doesn't know when the tumor started to grow. But one day last year, a strange thing happened.
"I was driving, and all of a sudden I had the first symptom. (It) only lasted 20 to 30 seconds," he said.
He couldn't hear, "things suddenly spun around" and he only saw colors.
"I thought to myself, 'Geez, I wonder if I had a heart attack?" King recalled.
A day or two later, on July 7, 2007, as he drove to his father's house, something else happened. He made it to his destination and announced "something's wrong."
"I remember my heart just beating. I felt really hot, but I wasn't sweating," King said.
He vaguely recalls watching the ceiling slide by when he arrived at the hospital. He remained at Munson Medical Center for 12 days.
The seizures continued. King could sense when one was about to happen. Everything would become quiet, and he started to see indescribable things. His right leg and right arm "went dead."
King, a father of four, could not continue his job as a registered nurse. His family hunted for medical answers. In late August, they travelled to Detroit and were told the problem was a mixed anaplastic oligoastrocytoma -- a brain tumor.
"I started bawling," King said.
"I was relieved to know there was an answer. He was devastated to know it was a tumor," his wife Edwina said.
Doctors at Detroit's Karmanos Cancer Institute recommended aggressive surgery. The two-part operation in November 2007 started by opening the skull and attaching electrodes onto the brain. That allowed doctors to map the locations for speech and memory, places they didn't want to disturb while removing the tumor. Then, King underwent surgery to take out 85 percent of the tumor mass, followed by six and a half weeks of radiation, Edwina said.
The tumor was considered a malignant, grade 3 tumor. Edwina said the "small amount" of malignant cells were removed.
"The tumor is stable. This type of tumor doesn't go into remission. It will continue to grow; he needs (to) continue to be monitored every three months," Edwina said.
Since the surgery, King has not had a seizure and takes anti-seizure medications. He was able to speak a handful of words at first, but his vocabulary grew dramatically. Reading and writing posed a bigger struggle.
"Life is still a little bit of a bummer," King said.
Friends and community members rallied to help the Kings build their house, a project underway before King's diagnosis.
Getting the best care meant following up with insurance companies and seeking out hospitals that specialize in brain surgeries. Edwina said advocating for the patient also is a must. She continued to demand answers when doctors couldn't determine what was causing the seizures.
"You kind of have to put pressure, you have to create the care that you want," she said. "The worst thing to do is just to say, 'Well, that's what they said...' No. If we would have waited three months from that point those grade 3 cells would have been much worse."
'Never be normal again'
After the brain tumor, life changed for Randall Pittenger.
"I'll never be normal again, and that's the hardest thing -- is accepting or realizing what and who you are at that given time. I had to accept I'll never be Randall Pittenger, a high school administrator ever again. That took a long time," he said.
The 56-year-old Mesick man lost a lot during his fight with colon cancer and an unrelated brain tumor. His memory was faulty. His marriage ended. He couldn't work. He wondered why he survived. Others with similar struggles may wonder, "Do I even go through it?" Pittenger said. His clear answer: "Certainly."
His troubles began more than 12 years ago with colon cancer. It runs in the family, so Pittenger went in for regular screenings. One year he was fine, the next -- cancer. A doctor recommended drastic surgery to remove the entire bowel. He agreed, and for about six years, tests showed he was fine.
Then, in 2000, doctors found a benign brain tumor. It started with headaches, a pain so "unreal" that nothing eased it. Pittenger was diagnosed with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, or too much fluid on the brain. He lived in Grand Blanc at the time and went to a downstate hospital for surgery to put in a shunt to drain the fluids. A few weeks later, by accident, he cracked his head on a step. As doctors examined the injury they discovered a tumor in the same place as the wound. They immediately performed surgery to deal with the tumor and the injury. During the operation, Pittenger said he slipped into a coma, a state he remained in for 44 days. He suffered a stroke during the coma, and when he came out of it, he could not talk or walk.
"It actually took me three years of therapy to get to the point where I had a doctor that allowed me to get a part-time job," Pittenger said.
He now works at a sporting goods store. After he moved north, Pittenger began going to a doctor at Munson Medical Center and learned there was an abscess in the same location the tumor had been. It meant another surgery.
"I do remember sitting there crying, knowing that I am not going to live through this one. This one is going to be it," Pittenger said.
The operation succeeded. Pittenger recovered better than he expected, though he still struggles with memory. He keeps track of his schedule on slips of paper, small calenders that he stuffs into his wallet. He also visits the Munson Memory and Attention Training Center to work on his memory skills.
Through the adversity, Pittenger learned lessons, like: People should insist on being tested for diseases, especially those that run in the family.
"Don't just assume that you're not of age yet," he said.
Pittenger found comfort through church friends and his faith and said brain tumor patients should go to a psychologist to work through depression. Life looks very different now. It may not be perfect, but it is worthwhile.
"We remember what it was like when we were younger, and anybody we heard of that had a tumor -- they're dead. You know, it's not that way anymore," he said.
A teen's battle
Nate Tripplehorn didn't realize he was doing it.
The habit just took hold.
"I had double vision, and I was tilting my head to the right to see better," said Tripplehorn, 18, of Charlevoix. "It was constant. I didn't even notice I was tipping my head until my grandmother said something."
Off he went to the eye doctor, then for a MRI. It took about a month to hear any news, and it was surprising. Tripplehorn, then 16, had a brain tumor. The germinoma was lodged on his brain stem, in a spot where surgery to remove it wasn't an option. At DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, he had a shunt put in. A doctor with the University of Michigan was able to conduct a biopsy and found it was malignant.
Tripplehorn started the first round of chemotherapy in 2006 followed by radiation. A "reoccurrence" in January 2007 meant more, "harsher" chemotherapy and "full brain and spine radiation," Tripplehorn said.
The spot is now "just scar tissue," and Tripplehorn said he goes in for check-ups every six months.
The treatments caused him to miss school, drop 40 pounds and sleep "all the time." Still, Tripplehorn managed to graduate this year from Charlevoix High School and compete on the wrestling team. Doctors told him not to play football, so the athletic teen picked up golf. The health troubles also took an emotional toll.
"When my mom came home she said that we have to go down to Grand Rapids because there's a problem, and I cried because I was thinking my life could be over," Tripplehorn said.
Now, Tripplehorn is preparing to start college at Grand Valley State University and wants to work in a computer field.
The struggle made him realize how much support he had and to take life "one day at a time."
"It kind of really showed you who your true friends are," Tripplehorn said.
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