My Journey with Brain Cancer
by John Mahoney
(this post first appeared on John’s blog www.johnfights.com and is republished here with his permission)
My journey into the rabbit hole of brain cancer started in mid-March of 2012. At the end of particularly stressful work week, I had a seizure and woke up in the hospital.
My first memory upon waking was seeing my fiancé’s face and my concerned family beside her. The ER team mentioned that I may have a glioma, but seemed unconcerned as they asked me to follow up in two weeks with the neurology team. None of us knew what a glioma was and the next two weeks passed by somewhat blissfully.
Two weeks later, my family and I reported to the appointment. I remember getting off of the elevator on the top floor and looking out the window and noticing how peaceful Chicago looked far below. When I turned from the window into the hallway, I saw that the floor I was on was for brain cancer and neurology. Instantly Chicago’s peace was lost in my mind in a puzzle of confusion as I ultimately realized that I may have brain cancer and I was going to find out from a doctor with the last name Grimm.
Sitting in the room I tried to be calm, collected and rational. As the doctor and his nurse practitioner sat in front of me I found out that I had a primary brain tumor that kills 98% percent of patients and likely only 5–7 years left to live. The moment was devastating and indexical because for the first time in my young life I realized in a non-academic way that I would not live forever.
The next few weeks were really tough. I had a fiancé, but I was quite concerned about my future and more so how her future would be impacted by marrying a person who was considered by the medical establishment to be terminally ill. I asked Allyson to strongly consider if she wanted to go through with marrying me. She said yes, but I asked her to give it a night or so to think about the implications. She came back the next day with a radical answer. She had spoken with her family and mine with a plan to move up the wedding to before my surgery. We were married 10 days later due to Allyson’s mother’s phenomenal planning, my mother’s strong connection to the church, and a pastor willing to cut a vacation short by driving 1,000 miles to marry a couple sight unseen. My brother made sure it felt like a wedding by procuring videography, music, and setting up a celebratory atmosphere during a time of grave uncertainty.
I decided that my best chance of survival was working with doctors and focusing on nutrition, supplementation and exercise. Prior to getting a brain tumor I was a mediocre cyclist who loved riding. I decided that getting back in shape was not optional, but mandatory. I hit the bike hard and loved it again. I started riding faster and farther. My sweat gave me hope and my work gave me strength.
The exercise and my improved health led Allyson and me to pursue having a child. It was a real stretch because from a fertility perspective I was not looking good. My sperm motility was poor, my counts were low and we thought that science was the answer to Allyson getting pregnant. Within a few days of starting to try and conceive a child naturally Allyson was pregnant. Her pregnancy went well and we were blessed with a healthy baby boy named Dennis.
The LIVESTRONG team will have three generations of Mahoneys pedaling across Iowa during RAGBRAI 2015. My father, also named Dennis, is 68 years old and will be pedaling with us. Allyson will be riding every day and I will be pulling our son Dennis.
I’ll be fighting for my life on the bike wearing a yellow jersey. You can help support me, my family and scores of cancer fighters through a donation to the LIVESTRONG organization.
This post was originally published at blog.livestrong.org on July 20, 2015.
