There are many moments in a person’s life where everything seems to shift or change its position. For me, one moment would be when I was diagnosed this year with a thalamic lesion in the center of my brain, or in other more commonly used words, a brain tumor. In one of these so called moments everything seems to fade away, everything but the information a person has just learned. Going through something that is affecting your body is hard, and I can say it is not something anyone should go through.

In the spring of this year I went through two spinal surgeries because I had an area on my spine that was blocking the passage of nerve signals to my legs. My body should have been healing at a normal rate, but for some reason it was not. Two months before the fall semester started, I went through many MRIs and a few other scans on my lower back. All of the different tests kept coming back with nothing showing up that should cause a problem. My neurologist decided I would have another MRI scan, but this time they would look at the very tip of my spine.

One day after having had the MRI, my mother received a phone call from the doctor’s office reporting the results from the scan. I recall sitting in the living room watching TV. I had no idea she had just received the results until she asked me to come into my parents’ bedroom. I knew something was immediately wrong when she shut the door behind me, I remember thinking it was very unusual for her to do that. I am not normally one to freak out with this kind of information, but my mother was standing in front of me crying and I did not know what to do. In my head, I started going through all of the possible scenarios of what could possibly be wrong, which is my way of freaking out.

It is a miracle I even survived the entire day. There was too much emotion and concern going around, and all this made me extremely uncomfortable; I hate being the center of attention. My father ended up leaving his job earlier that day and coming straight home to check on me to see how I was handling everything. My brother kept saying Dad was coming home so he could comfort my mom more than me. I am really thankful I have such a wonderful God because that day he made sure I would have some of my really good friends with me to guide and support me through the entire process.

During the next day and the upcoming week there was scheduled quite a few doctor appointments. My life was crazy for a very long time. Through this whole trial there were many people at my church who were constantly praying for me. This entire experience showed me how blessed I am to have these people in my life. I do not know if I could have made it through this journey on my own.

I ended up having to have yet another MRI and some other kind of scan. In one of the doctor appointments we discussed the results of the most recent MRI. The reason they decided to have me do another scan was because we did not know if the tumor was cancerous or not. Everyone who had been praying for me were very anxious to get the results. Thankfully the tumor was not cancerous.

Through all that has happened in my life and now this, I can sympathize with people who are going through similar experiences and sometimes even help them through it. This is why I had to go through this experience. I do not know what will happen in the future, but I do know that no matter what, I will make it through this in one piece.