Illustration of a glioblastoma
tumor in the parietal lobe.

As a four-year survivor of glioblastoma multiforme, one of the most dangerous types of brain tumors, Charlene is the first to say that she has been blessed. Her tumor was found earlier than most; it was located in a part of her brain that was easy for her surgeon to reach; and it was in a part of her brain that was not associated with speech or movement.

“It was March 4, 2005, and I was at a friend’s house,” Charlene recalls. “I had a really bad headache, like someone was squeezing my head. I left my friend’s home and threw up. I got disoriented.”

Charlene’s daughter whisked her to the emergency room at Ft. Hamilton (Ohio) Hospital, where doctors interpreted her disorientation, or “transient numbness,” as a seizure and ordered a brain scan. She was given bad news – she had a brain tumor – and was referred immediately to Dr. Arthur Arand, a neurosurgeon at the Mayfield Clinic.

Six days later, Charlene underwent surgery at Mercy Hospital Fairfield in suburban Cincinnati. Dr. Arand opened her skull in a procedure called a craniotomy. He then removed the tumor, which was in a “non-eloquent” area on the right side of her brain – an area of the brain that Charlene did not use when speaking, thinking, or moving around.

“We were able to completely remove it, along with an adequate margin of tissue around it,” Dr. Arand says. “To be able to remove an adequate margin around the tumor was very advantageous.”

Nevertheless, the tumor could not be taken lightly. Its name alone packed a punch. A pathologist confirmed that the tumor was a glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive cancer that tends to recur and is difficult to treat. To help keep the tumor from coming back, Dr. Arand lined the tumor cavity with nickel-sized chemotherapy wafers, which deliver a steady dose of chemotherapy over a period of two to three weeks after implantation. The wafers are intended to kill off any tumor cells that might have been left behind.

Charlene’s surgery was followed up with radiation and oral chemotherapy treatments overseen by Dr. Ralph Wright and Dr. Evan Lang of Oncology/Hematology Care, Inc., at Ft. Hamilton Hospital. Her mother gave her strength – “You’re not going to die” – and she drew heavily on her faith.

“I never moped around saying ‘poor me,’ ”Charlene says. “I have Jesus, and I had a lot of faith in my doctors. They were wonderful to me. They never gave me false hope, but they never gave me no hope. You have to have faith in the Lord, faith in your doctors, and faith in yourself. If you don’t have faith in yourself, you can’t get through this because it’s a tough road.”

Charlene has regular followup monitoring performed with Ronald Warnick, MD, Chairman of the Mayfield Clinic and Director of the UC Brain Tumor Center, at Mayfield’s University Pointe offices in West Chester, Ohio. “Every time I go to Dr. Warnick’s office, people say I’m a miracle,” Charlene says. “And I tell them Jesus is a miracle. The ‘C’ in Christ is bigger than the ‘C’ in cancer. If Christ is in your heart, cancer is nothing.”

A former cardiology tech, phlebotomist, and nursing assistant, Charlene now works at home as a caregiver for her mother and a nephew. Every morning she says a prayer and tells herself, “I’ll live and not die.” In keeping with her positive outlook, she has even made peace with her hair, which grew back with a wave following her radiation treatments.

She also keeps Dr. Arand’s philosophical advice close to her heart. “Dr. Arand said, ‘Live each day to the fullest,’ and that’s exactly what I try to do.”

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