A Family’s Diagnosis Inspires Book, “If You Love Me, Take Me Now”
CERN Inspiration Story
I had symptoms for more than a year. It started with spontaneous bouts of hiccups. Whenever I ate or drank, I would start hiccupping. I was forced to stop eating or drinking until they passed. Sometimes, the hiccups would start for no apparent reason and they came any time throughout the day, even while sleeping.
In August of 2003, I finally went to see my doctor. He sent me to a gastroenterologist because he thought it might be stomach related. It took a month or so to get the appointment and then he treated me for acid reflux for another few months. In the meantime, I was traveling around the world on business and burning up more time. Around Thanksgiving I started to have difficulty swallowing. My ears started to ring and I had this strange sensation that felt like my head was in a bucket of ice water. I also began to have headaches. I went back to my primary doctor in late January and told him of these new symptoms. By now I suspected that something was seriously wrong inside my head, but I didn’t want to think tumor. My wife and I actually joked about it being a tumor. My doctor finally sent me to a neurologist on Monday and a few days later, I had an MRI. The neurologist called me right away with news that they had found an egg-sized tumor attached to my brain stem and in the forth ventricle.