A Startling Diagnosis Leads 36-year-old to Winship Brain Tumor Center Lauren's Story

“It’s kind of a wild story,” says 36-year-old Chattanooga, Tennessee, resident Lauren, describing how she came to be a patient at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta, where she is being treated for a brain tumor.

Only three weeks after giving birth to her second daughter, Lauren was experiencing migraines. She figured they were due to hormones. But the regular medication she was given didn’t touch the pain.

Lauren and her husband went to another doctor. They gave her what they called a “migraine cocktail” of medication. Again, no relief.

A third doctor ordered a CT scan. It revealed a mass in Lauren’s head. They scheduled surgery for the next day to remove it. “That’s when we found out that it was cancerous,” Lauren says.

The first step in Lauren’s cancer experience was to figure out what was next as far as treatment goes — and where to go for it. Lauren knew a woman in Chattanooga, even younger than herself, who had the same cancer as Lauren and “spoke very highly” of the treatment she received at the Emory Proton Therapy Center in Atlanta. “So we came down here within a couple of weeks and talked to everybody. We knew at that time that’s where we wanted to go. I say 'we' being my husband and me.”

Lauren had been informed that there was a good chance she would need a second surgery to remove the rest of the tumor. So she spoke with Edjah K. Nduom, MD, FAANS, the neurosurgical oncologist who leads the Winship Brain Tumor Center. “He just reassured me and told me what he could do to remove my tumor — and that gave me hope,” Lauren says.

For his part, Nduom was already aware of Lauren after hearing about her case from a colleague in Alabama, where Lauren had looked into treatment before going to Winship. “I actually first heard about her as a patient when I was in Honolulu,” he says. “Dr. [Laura] Donovan was there as well, and we were both approached by a neuro-oncologist, a good friend and colleague in Alabama, about a young lady who was dealing with a brain tumor. He said she had reached out there and was looking at care there, but they really wanted to consolidate the care in Atlanta.”

Neurologist and neuro-oncologist Laura Donovan, MD, the medical director of the Brain Tumor Center, says, “One of the things that struck us about Lauren’s case was that there was potentially more surgery that could be done.” The goal is to remove as much, if not all, of the tumor as possible. “We know that being able to get as much out as possible, and particularly if you can get virtually all of what you can see removed in a surgery, that really helps people do better with radiation and with chemotherapies,” she explains.

Nduom says, “I tell my patients that as a surgeon, it’s my job to give them the safest, most accurate start to their journey with their brain tumor as possible. And with the collaboration with Dr. Donovan, and having those conversations upfront to let her know that this made sense, we were able to do that for her — and I think it’s going to make a big difference for her going forward.”

“Everybody was so warm," says Lauren after meeting with Nduom, Donovan and the rest of the multidisciplinary team at the Brain Tumor Center and the Proton Center. "What I told my mom was, ‘I just felt held and taken care of,’ and we made our decision that day that we wanted to come here for that reason. Everybody has just been so kind and welcoming and understanding — and obviously super helpful with me with everything we’ve been going through.”

Bree Eaton, MD, a radiation oncologist and interim medical director at the Emory Proton Therapy Center, also met with Lauren on Lauren’s initial exploratory visit to Winship. “She came to Winship and she was given a multidisciplinary opinion,” Eaton says of Lauren. “She met with Dr. Nduom, Dr. Donovan and myself. And we were able to not just move forward with a plan for proton therapy, but to recognize that she would actually benefit from additional surgery as well. That alone was really transformative for her. It will make such a difference in her ultimate outcome and in the care that she received.”

Lauren says the multidisciplinary team has been “incredibly helpful, especially being from out of town.” She explains, “There’s teams of people that help get you out of there quicker. They’re all familiar with my case, so that’s really nice too. I’m not repeating myself. They all talk to each other and make sure that it goes as seamlessly as possible.” Even in terms of the logistics of her appointments, Lauren says, “They organize the appointments, all of that. And they all know each other, so things are much more seamless for that reason. I’m going through a lot already, and they make it a lot easier doing all that side of things.” She adds, “Brain cancer is a big deal, and I feel like I’m being taken care of with them, which is a very nice feeling when it’s a big topic to discuss.”

When we caught up with Lauren, it wasn’t yet six months since her diagnosis. She was in the final stretch of a 30-day course of radiation therapy, visiting the Emory Proton Therapy Center five days a week. “I walk in the door,” Lauren says, “and they all know me. They’re like, ‘Hey, good morning, Lauren. You’re good to go, go ahead down there. I go downstairs and it doesn’t take very long — five or 10 minutes. They let you play whatever music you want and you feel nothing. The building is beautiful. I love how organized it is there and everybody knows who you are. It caters to the patient, which is a huge perk.”

The biggest perks, what really keeps Lauren going, are actually quite little: her three-year-old and the four-month-old she had just before her diagnosis. “They are a delight and they have made this difficult time easier for us because they’re crazy in a really good way,” says Lauren. “They’re honestly a blessing to help distract from the scarier times.”

Taking stock of her cancer experience to date, Lauren says, “I did not think I would have brain cancer at 36 years old, so that in itself has been a lot to process. But I’m very grateful to have found Winship because they make me feel taken care of and supported during this crazy time. I would wish anybody to be able to come here to get the type of support I have received and not to have to worry about the other stuff. My doctors are all just lovely and I’m very grateful.”