Personal Narrative: My Family With Stage Four Glioblastoma

My grandfather was diagnosed with bone cancer about a year and a half ago. When I found out, it was hard to comprehend that I was going to have to see my grandfather become weak and small because of the lack of appetite from the chemotherapy. Days and weeks would pass and there was a bit of hope that led me to think he was fighting this cancer, but I was wrong. September of 2015 my grandfather passed

My great grandfather, was diagnosed with bladder cancer when I was in fifth grade but he got treatment and seemed to be going better, until my seventh grade year when he began having pain but luckily it wasn’t cancer, he just had to have stents put in his ureters and keep up with doctors appointments and taking his medicine. Everything settled down for around a year and a half but then in the December of my freshman year, there was a cancerous tumor found on my father’s

In 2009 my uncle was diagnosed with Cancer. Much like Sundiata, he did not display and fear in the face of danger. No matter how much his condition worsened, he stayed strong and shed no tears. For the sake of his family and friends, he did not want to show weakness. After his diagnosis, he underwent chemotherapy as well as many surgeries. He continued to work and support his family for as long as he could.

Dutch was diagnosed with glioblastoma and had surgery to remove two tumors in 2013. Prognosis after his surgery was good, and he far outlived the average patient due to how aggressively brain tumors grow. Following his diagnosis, he opened the Darren Daulton Foundation, that provides medical relief for those fighting brain tumors and brain cancer. Dutch’s love and care for other people never wavered, despite what he was going through, much like the days of ice packs on his knees.

No one thinks that it will happen to them. No one thinks that one day it might be them walking into the doctor’s office, only to hear those three horrifying words – “You have cancer.” To say that cancer changed my life is an enormous understatement. Cancer took me on an insane roller coaster for two years.. turning, twisting, jerking. I never thought it would happen to me. I heard those three lethal words, but they were not spoken to me. My father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December of 2014.

capacity to repair itself. Many drugs cannot cross the blood-brain barrier to act on the

My parents had just attained engagement when they found out my dad had cancer. My dad had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma stage four at the age of 25 in1996. My mom and dad were shocked but had hope my dad would make it. My dad has inspired me to be the best I can be and not let anyone stop me. This unexpected event happened before I was born but tremendously affected me. This my dad’s unforgettable story.

Six years and then four months. First ALS then Glioblastoma. Rewind. A lot is missing. My story has partially been told already in this portfolio called "A Love Diagnoses." Continue. Since the time of the essay I have passed. October 17, 2016. You see, the time before I passed, I was in and out of hospitals. So much had gone wrong and doctors could not even pinpoint a cause or a solution. A hypothesis, the multiple drugs I had been on were causing my organs to fail and liquid to build up in my abdomen. These drugs, however, were showing progress of shrinking the tumor in my head. But they had to take me off the drugs because my body could not take it. Miserable. So miserable. My kids would visit me. While they were in the hospital room doctors

In 2005 my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, just like Gus, but for her it was for the first time, not a recurrence. When my grandmother had breast cancer, had was 61 years-old. She started to think she had cancer when she saw a weird lump on her skin. Worried, she hurried to her doctor and asked her doctor about it. Her doctor performed a biopsy, a test that determines whether her skin on her breast had cancerous cells, on a section of her skin where she suspected cancer. The test came back positive and she had breast cancer. In the following months her body was bombarded by multiple rounds of chemotherapy every week. During chemotherapy she began to act just like Gus did when he had

A norm has been broken and has effected my family. My grandpa, Lewis Wayne, passed away October 11, 2016 at the age of 89. His death had caused many of broken norms throughout his life and even toward his last days that my family had grown so use to seeing. My grandpa was a great, hard working man that could never fail to make you laugh. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with skin cancer in October of 2014. As a family we chose for him to receive radiation/chemo and fight the cancer. He began chemo in February 2015. During his rounds of treatment, there had been shown an amount of reduction. Later in the year of 2015, they had found that the cancer came back and even grew, so he began radiation for 5 days a week for 5 weeks total.

My dad got diagnosed with prostate cancer in early 2014. It was a hard year for my family, and I still remember it like it was yesterday. Not even in my worst dreams did I ever see my dad having cancer. The man that I looked up to, and loved to pieces had cancer. I was devastated, I remember crying and being afraid that I was going to lose him to an incurable disease that lurked the lives of many.

The summer of July 2014 my family got devastating news that my grandfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Prior diagnose of pancreatic cancer his weight had dropped drastically, couldn’t keep any of his food down, and pigmentation had changed. When he came into the hospital his intestines were wrapped around his kidneys and they found a tumor in his pancreas. By August 2, 2014 my grandfather had lost the battle of pancreatic cancer. His death was slow and painful surrounded by nothing but family and friends. (3)

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is considered to be one of the most common and aggressive intracranial tumors that is heavily prevalent in adults. Patients are recorded to have an average survival for nearly 14 months following diagnosis with little to no hope for a successful recovery. GBM is highly invasive in nature which prevents it from being completely resected and recurrences are prone to occur even after treatment of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.

During the summer of 2015, my Grandpa Mert was diagnosed with prostate cancer. This particular type of cancer is usually very treatable and is something you just live with, so it didn’t worry our family too much. Toward the end of the year, however, things started changing. On New Years’ Day, my grandpa was admitted to the hospital for the flu, and the flu turned into pneumonia, and we found out later it was all because of his cancer. He had tried one round of chemotherapy, but the treatment made his body so weak that it couldn’t fight off other viruses, like the flu and pneumonia. He ended up staying in the hospital on and off (mostly on) for just over a month, and even had to spend his 75th birthday in the hospital. As his health progressively worsened and his body became weaker, he

When I was 17 years old, my father was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Without a doubt it was an event which marked my life and helped me mature in many aspects. I witnessed how my father began to lose his cognitive functions like his ability to focus, changes in his personality, behavior and emotions. This was the first time that I felt interested in learning how the brain process the information and motivated to learn more regarding this disease in order to help him. After my father passed away, my mother fell into a depression so I began to search for ways to improve her emotional state by reading books and magazines on the subject.