Even A Brain Tumor Couldn’t Derail Caroline Flynn From Completing Her First Year At College

For 18 years of my life, I lived in good health – I had never even broken a bone. So when I was diagnosed with a brain tumor during my freshman year of college, my world was turned upside down.

I never even had symptoms of a brain tumor. It was found incidentally, thanks to a sinus infection I couldn’t shake. After months of trying different antibiotics with no success, my doctor ordered a CT, which led to an MRI.

The results of the MRI came back in August – just as I had spent the first night in my dorm room at Michigan State University, anticipating a fall filled with football games, sorority rush and new classes. I awoke that morning to a call from my mom. Completely unrelated to the sinus infection, the MRI found “something” in my brain. The next day, my mom picked me up to meet with Dr. Ian Lee, a neurosurgeon at Henry Ford Health in Detroit.

I was so nervous, but as soon as I walked into the Henry Ford Cancer Pavilion, I felt a bit of relief thanks to the warm welcome and calming atmosphere. It wasn’t long into my appointment with Dr. Lee that I knew I could trust him with my health.

At the time, we were not sure what the lesion in my brain was, so we decided to give it two months before checking on it again. I was grateful for those two months – I was able to take my mind off everything and have the quintessential college experience.

In that time, the lesion hadn’t grown, but we now had to schedule a biopsy to determine its pathology (or makeup). This biopsy – my first surgery – was scheduled over Thanksgiving break. My family and I spent the day before in Detroit: We had brunch at The Hudson Café and impulsively bought tickets to the Lion’s game just as it was about to start around the corner. I couldn't have asked for a better day to relax before my journey really began.

My First Surgery – And Learning I Had Cancer

The day of surgery was frightening. It was my first time ever in an operating room. I wanted my mom to come with me, but I was lucky enough to have Lisa Scarpace, program manager at the brain tumor center, holding my hand as they started anesthesia – just like my mom would.

I patiently waited for weeks upon weeks to get the results. I thought about it almost every second of every day. I was extremely nervous and did not know what my diagnosis would be.

It turned out that I had a grade 2 astrocytoma glioma tumor in the left frontal lobe of my brain. This basically meant that I had a brain tumor that wasn’t as aggressive as grade 3 and grade 4 tumors, so we could wait a little while to remove it.

Surgery was scheduled for Monday, January 8 – which happened to be the first day of classes for my second semester at Michigan State. So many people told me to take a semester off, but that was the last thing I wanted to do. I scheduled three classes and worked with MSU’s Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities to get the accommodation I needed to complete the courses.

It was a 7-hour surgery and I spent two nights in the hospital. My head was tightly wrapped in white head dressing and my scar was 4 inches across my head. I was exhausted. Yet a week later, I began looking at my class course load. People are in disbelief about that to this day – they don't believe me when I say I expected a lot more pain than I really endured.

Going Through Chemotherapy & Radiation – And Finally Beating Cancer

But that’s not where this story ends. Dr. Lee ended up finding signs of a higher-grade tumor – meaning I would need 33 rounds of radiation and take an oral chemotherapy pill every day for seven weeks. This made me lose hope for a little bit. Every time I thought I was finally done, something else came up. But I kept my head high and kept doing things that maintained some normalcy in my life.

My plan had always been to move back to school the day after I was able to get my stitches removed. And even after learning I would need radiation and chemo, I didn’t change my mind. I drove back and forth between school and home every day of radiation. Radiation took a lot out of me but I don’t regret doing it - I wasn’t going to give up. I trusted my doctors with every decision.

My last week of radiation was also finals week and my dorm move-out date. In one week, I earned 4.0s in my three courses, finished my first year of college and had my last ever round of radiation treatment. I got to ring a bell and my parents, godmother, two of my mom’s best friends (and my sister on the phone from school) were by my side to help me celebrate. It was truly one of the best days of my life and such an accomplishment. I was finally done.

I have not once second guessed my choice in trusting Henry Ford Health with my cancer journey. From my surgeon Dr. Lee and oncologist Dr. James Snyder to Lisa Scarpace and the nurses and doctors who helped along the way – plus my friends and family – I was able to find the strength within myself to navigate this experience with compassion and grace.

I’ve calculated it: From August 23rd to April 23rd – eight months exactly – I had two surgeries and 33 radiation and oral chemotherapy treatments. I drove 4,244 miles from East Lansing and back, spent 99+ hours driving, and in the end, one brain tumor was finally defeated.