We're in Good Company

The ever breath-taking, Elizabeth Taylor, the brilliant creator of the classic horror novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Academy Award winning actor, Mark Ruffalo are just a few of the notable names who have suffered brain tumors and brain cancer. While spinal cord tumors and cancers are far more rare than other neurological conditions such as brain tumors, there are a few names to drop that you might recognize. Actor, Dan Haggerty of Grizzly Adams fame and star of stage and film, John Houseman, both battled spinal cord cancer.

I was a bit taken aback when I realized just how many people have experienced something similar to what I have gone through. Just the big names that have battled and often lost the war against the big “C” helped me understand that I was certainly far from alone in the both emotional and physical fight. Even the feelings of anger or sorrow and, surprisingly for me, discovering that the feeling of being lucky to have learned so much through the experience is shared by others. I thought I was just weird.

Former E-News Anchor, Maria Menounos, told Women's Health Magazine that her brain tumor and surgery in 2017 was the best thing to happen to her. “It's freed me of all that anxiety of having to be perfect.” While I'm certainly no Maria Menounos, I completely relate to much of the interview.

Self reflection, awareness of ones body and each movement, patience to allow ones own recovery...even those who have graced the cover of People Magazine can and do fight the same fights and feel the same feelings and learn the same lessons as the rest of us who find ourselves hearing the life changing news of having a brain tumor or spinal cord tumor.

Complete Maria Menounos Interview:

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/maria-menounos-interview

Photo:post brain tumor surgery...Elizabeth Taylor, 1997