Blog and Video Blogs
Thank you
for visiting our website. First, I would like to introduce myself and explain
the journey that life has sent me on over the past two years. My name is
Rachael, I am a 28 year old female with a brain tumor. I first learned about my
brain tumor after suffering horrible headaches and extreme fatigue for 4 months
in the summer of 2010. Most people get headaches and an aspirin or 2 will
alleviate the condition. In my case, a super size bottle of Excedrin every two
weeks hardly allowed me to get out of bed in the morning. By month four I
finally got myself in to see my doctor, who prescribed me a migraine drug
called Immitrex, told me to get my eyes checked and scheduled an MRI, just in
case. The Immitrex made me nauseous, I got glasses and the MRI revealed a tumor
the size of a large orange growing in my brain.
I can clearly remember lying in the MRI at Beverly Hospital in Danvers, MA. I could see the
operator through a mirror located above my head and was slightly confused when
I noticed her place her two hands up to her mouth as if she were frightened,
gasping as if she'd just seen a ghost. My boyfriend, Jedd was with me on
November 1, 2010, the day of this first frightening MRI scan. We were directed
to go back to the doctor’s office from the hospital immediately after the scan
finished. We sat in the waiting room for what seemed like days. Still
unsure of what was going on and exhausted from Halloween night in Salem, we were
totally shocked when my doc revealed that there was a large “mass” growing in
my brain.
She explained everything as delicately and in detail as she possibly could to
get the point across and Jedd and I absorbed and understood that my life was
about to get turned upside down. Of course, my
first thought was that I was dying and I wanted to do all the fun things that
people who realize that life is ending want to do. Once I got hold of my emotions
and got on the phone with my parents though, it came clear to me, we would take one day at a
time. Those would be the words I would live by. One day at a time. By the third
day I was in the OR at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center having a craniotomy
to remove what was trying to take over my brain.
A glimpse at the scar left after surgery #1 to remove a brain tumor from the right frontal lobe of Rachael's brain
Now, two years later, I am still battling to defeat the tumor in my brain. My goal is to be treated this year at the Burzynski Clinic. I am excited about this treatment given its success rate, lack of side effects and progressive approach. Thank you for visiting this site and supporting my efforts to beat this brain tumor once and for all!
Rachael before diagnosis, modeling in Bali Rachael with her neurosurgeon post op, surgery #2