12-Year-Old Cancer Patient, Given A Year Left Turns 30

A 12-year-old boy who was diagnosed with cancer and given a year to live in 2005 has recently turned 30.

The Nashville resident, 30, described how he was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor at the age of twelve in his Reddit post.

Even with surgery and medication, doctors at the time estimated he would “only live a year or two.”

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that the Make-A-request Foundation had even fulfilled his last request, which had involved taking his family on vacation to Hawaii.

The married father of two who overcame cancer claims to currently work at the same hospital where he received his early diagnosis and care.

The individual describes his situation on the discussion board, claiming that he was diagnosed with pilomyxoid astrocytoma in 2005, when he was 12-year-old.

According to a 2004 study published in the journal Medscape General Medicine, the aggressive cancer, which typically affects very young children and has low survival rates and a high risk of it coming back, has an average age of diagnosis of 18 months.

The man’s primary complaint, which physicians initially dismissed as a stomach illness, was that he was sick. However, once his parents brought him to the emergency room, a scan showed he had a brain tumor.

The remaining tumor tissue was subsequently destroyed with radiation after he underwent surgery to remove as much of the tumor as feasible.

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After treatment, he experienced modest short-term memory loss, which he claims makes it challenging for him to recall people’s names or what he has eaten.

With the anticipation that he wouldn’t live longer than two years, the Make-A-Wish Foundation gave the then 12-year-old his dying wish: a family vacation to Maui in Hawaii.

The man is still living today, nevertheless, almost two decades later. He claimed that because he was one of only four people in the world who ever got the cancer diagnosis by 2005, his doctors had given him an inaccurate prognosis.

According to him, the other three instances lived for ‘about a year or two’ after their tumor was discovered.

The man said: “Doctors had no idea why my surgery and treatment was so successful.

“The hospital sent my tumor off to be studied and they continued giving me regular MRI scans every year up until just now. I finished my final MRI checkup this year.”

He currently works at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, where he was treated as a youngster, and organizes charity fundraising events for children with cancer.

However, because he still has memory issues, he must carry a little notebook with him to write down items he needs to remember.

The man said: “There was never a ‘congratulations, you’re cancer free!’ moment.

“Just yearly brain scans for the past 18 years to make sure the tumor still hasn’t started growing again.

“My doctor just now as of this year feels comfortable stopping the brain scans.”