Tatum's Story
March 4th, 2012, is a day I will never forget. This was the day my daughter (first child) was born, and the day I found out I had a brain tumor. It was on my second push to bring this amazing little girl into the world that I ended up having a seizure. This turned our family’s lives upside down in a brief second.
Prior to getting pregnant with my first child, I worked out and was very healthy. I also worked full-time and put myself through school to become a nurse. Looking back, besides a headache here and there, I didn’t have any symptoms that would make me think that I had a neurological issue or brain tumor.
My husband and I tried for almost two years to get pregnant, and we were over the moon when we found out we were having a girl. Besides my husband and me, our entire family was beyond excited to meet this angel coming into our world.
Little did we know, God was not only sending an angel, He was also sending my own personal angel who I believe saved my life!
From this day forward, I can definitely say my life has changed. We ended up choosing to do a biopsy of the brain tumor the same week I had my daughter. It became a waiting game for the results.
We, as a family, decided that having surgery at Barrow Neurological Institute would be the next step to start my journey. After meeting my amazing surgeon, who I now hold close to my heart, I had surgery on May 24th, 2012. Starting the following year of January 2013, I had 8 weeks of radiation. I ended up having another surgery in October 2015 after seeing a change on my MRI.
As of today, I am happy to report, that my MRI’s and appointments with my oncologist, have been expanded to every 6 months. I truly believe that I am beyond blessed for my family and for all the love that surrounds me. I have been doing very well. After everything that happened, I saw how amazing people and the world could be. People from everywhere, even people I have never met before, came into our lives to help. This is something I will never forget, and it has hugely changed me.
I can’t imagine living my life now and not teaching my children how to help others. The struggles people are going through will not only change their lives, but the lives of everyone they know and love. There are many ways to help. They may need a bill paid, meals brought over, time to sleep, or just time to talk with someone who has been through something similar. Having people, prayers, and love can help them get through from one day to the next. I want to make a difference in someone’s life, like all the people who made a difference for our family and our journey.