Carlos Trying to beat brain cancer a 2nd time

Hey, my name is Carlos. In May of 2018, I was driving home from the gym when I suddenly had a seizure. Luckily, I did not crash and was able to call two of my closest friends to pick me up and bring me to the hospital, where I had two more seizures. I was admitted into the hospital on a Friday night, and by Monday morning, my brain was being operated on. I was told there was a malignant mass the size of a grapefruit in my head. May 16th, 2018 was the day I found out that I had stage three anaplastic astrocytoma(stage 3 brain cancer).

My life did a total 180. I was just one week out from turning 23 and had passed the test I needed to become a police officer. The doctors informed me that the malignant tumor could not be removed completely because of the way it was attached to my brain. They explained the severity of the situation to make sure I understood. It was hard, but I kept my composure at that moment, as I had friends in the room with me. As soon as my mom arrived, I let everything out.

This diagnosis changed my life completely. I could no longer become a police officer because the risk of serious injury for me was highly amplified. I could end up paralyzed if hit too hard in the head area. It was always my mom's dream to be an officer, but life got in the way. I took it upon myself to fulfill her dream and decided to go to college to study law enforcement & technology. Because of everything that happened, the last year I attended college was 2018.

I went on to complete chemotherapy and radiation treatments. I eventually went into remission in September of 2019. I then took to traveling and was able to visit six different countries with my friends. It gave me a new perspective on life.

Fast forward to November of 2021, I felt the horribly familiar seizure aura and passed out at work. I was lucky to have coworkers aid me through the seizure, ensuring I wouldn't hit my head. I woke up in the back of an ambulance and immediately started crying. I knew instantly that the cancer had come back.

In December 2021, I started having seizures more frequently and losing mobility on the left side of my body. In addition, I was getting headaches so bad that I would throw up anything I ate. I was taking several anti-seizure medications and going through radiation treatments. Finally, I had a craniotomy on March 8th, 2022, to remove as much of the tumor as possible. While the surgery itself went very well, the aftermath was brutal. Spinal fluid was building up in my head, causing leakage from my surgery wound. To combat this, my doctors decided to put a VP shunt in my head.

A VP shunt is a tube installed from the brain down to the abdomen, just under the skin, meant to bring some of that excess fluid down into my abdomen. It is meant to relieve some of the pressure caused by this excess spinal fluid, which ultimately was meant to help with my consistent headaches and seizures.

Unfortunately, my body was rejecting this shunt, ultimately making the situation worse. In addition, my body was not healing properly from the installation. The first shunt was removed within two weeks of its initial installation.

After a couple of weeks, the spinal fluid buildup was still an issue, and another shunt had to be inserted, but this one was a newer model with a higher draining capacity. Things got better from there in terms of the headaches, but I had now lost a large amount of mobility on my left side. Even something as simple as smiling can be challenging for the left side of my body.

You can see in this calendar just how busy this past March was for me because of all of the appointments.

Since then, I have received chemotherapy and radiation treatments again. I am currently in a rehabilitation facility to regain some of the mobility I lost on the left side of my body. I am striving for some normalcy again. As of July 26, 2022, I haven't been home for more than a couple of days at a time since my craniotomy on March 8th.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story. Every donation helps me in a big way. I want to thank everyone who donated and who donates from here on out from the bottom of my heart. You are helping me get closer to normalcy. My goal is to enjoy life as much as I possibly can.