Written by Tommy Mizwickik
When 2022 began, indoor dining at restaurants in Chicago still felt like a great luxury after two years of being isolated in an apartment during Covid. I was out for an annual birthday dinner on February 10th with three of my closest childhood friends, all of us were born within the same three days. It was our 28th birthday and I was looking forward to things starting to feel somewhat “normal” again that year. A week later I was heading to sleep on a Wednesday night, and that was my last conscious memory before waking up in an ICU at a nearby hospital on Friday morning. I had suffered a grand mal seizure in my sleep, and my roommate had taken me to the ER Thursday evening after he logged off work. He said I had been in the bathroom vomiting all day, and when he tried asking me what was going on I couldn’t formulate a sentence back to him, only make sounds. I had rug burns on my arms, hands, and face from the carpeting in my bedroom, and my roommate said the receiving team at the ER thought I was intoxicated.
Upon waking in the ICU next to my mother and aunt with constraints next to my wrists, a doctor came in and informed me I had a brain tumor as shown by the MRI they completed while I was sedated. He suggested I didn’t have to have surgery right away, but that I should get a second or third opinion before taking next steps. My mother was a nurse for over 50 years, and she reached out to a cardiac surgeon she worked for, who recommended a neurosurgeon to see. I was lucky to trust the neurosurgeon I met with immediately, and I had surgery on March 9th. The biopsy showed the tumor was a grade 3 astrocytoma, which my neurooncologist informed me was a type of brain cancer. A few weeks later I started my eight weeks of radiation Monday through Friday, and twelve-monthly rounds of chemotherapy over the next year. In the first few months – I couldn’t drive, I moved back in with my parents, I went on medical leave from work, and I left my graduate school program.
It was a lot of change all at once, but I kept a positive attitude throughout the process. I had a lot of support from family and friends who were always checking in to see how I was doing. That support system played an immense role in my positive mental state. Each day after radiation I would go on walks to get some exercise and reflect on everything. It led me to wanting to learn about other stories and help within the community. I eventually found an organization called The National Brain Tumor Society and their Gray Nation Endurance program. I signed up to run a 10-mile race on their behalf in October of 2022. I decided to challenge myself further and eventually ran my first half marathon and full marathon in March and April of 2023, also with NBTS for brain tumor awareness. I met incredible people along the way with their own brain tumor stories – people who had lost loved ones, people who were supporting loved ones with glioblastoma, future healthcare providers in neurology, and other survivors who were also advocating for the brain tumor community through running. This past March, a team of those incredible people and I completed a 340-mile relay race from Santa Monica, CA to Las Vegas, NV; all in support of brain cancer awareness. My neuro-oncologist, Dr. Paleologos, told me about Head For The Cure and the amazing work they’re doing for the brain tumor community. She suggested I get involved, and I couldn’t be happier for her suggestion.
I’m beyond excited to join the ambassador program at Head For The cure, and especially support those who might not have the same support system as I did when I received my diagnosis. I’ve found such purpose in trying to inspire and help others within this community, and I will continue to help as much as I can until a cure is found.