My brain tumor made me a unicorn

This episode is personal. Since October of 2019 I’ve been sharing my experience battling a brain tumor. I have what’s known as a spheno orbital meningioma. Which means the tumor grew behind my left eye. Currently, it’s sitting on my carotid artery, my optic nerve, on the back of my left eye, in my left eye socket and it invaded my skull bone and is moving toward my cavernous sinus. While it’s a benign tumor, where it’s located is threatening my vision and my life. Benign tumors can be deadly too. I’ve gone through two brain surgeries, in 2019, I had a craniotomy where they removed a significant part of my bone and replaced it with three titanium plates. They removed as much as they could, but couldn’t get it all because of the risk of making me blind, or killing me based on its location. Mine isn’t like a golf ball size tumor that could easily be removed, it’s more like throwing an egg against a brick wall and trying to clean out all the nooks and crannies. Between 2020 and 2021, my tumor decided to grow toward my cavernous sinus which is also where my carotid artery is located, again putting my life at risk. In December of 21, surgeons went into my brain through my eyelid and removed as much tumor as they could in and around my eye socket, but again, couldn’t get everything. That surgery bought me time. While meningiomas are common, the location of mine is not. The fact that it grew toward my cavernous sinus made it even more rare. I’m one of those people who believes that knowledge is power. I volunteered for clinical research to learn the genetic makeup of my tumor, and perhaps the best type of treatment to attack it. This episode is my meeting with my neuro oncologist, Dr. Mina Lobbous of Cleveland Clinic. He explains that my situation is not only rare, I’m pretty much a unicorn.