Seattle Anchor Woman's Long Battle

[Janet]

Hi all,

Here is an inspirational story link about a Seattle anchor woman who has had a long battle with a recurrent meningioma tumor.

http://www.komonews.com/news/39688052.html?video=YHI&t=a

Janet

[suboo73]

janet,  Thank you for sharing this!

Sue

[jazzfunkanne]

That news reader looks great, is the balance nerve affected with this kind of tumour?

[Pooter]

Great story!  Thanks for sharing it!  I can relate to much of that..

As I recall, MsMaggie had a meningioma as well (as opposed to an AN) but doctors weren't sure prior to surgery what it was.. It was only at the time of surgery when they could run some tests to see which kind of tumor it was.  Again as I recall, there isn't a lot of difference between the two types of tumors.  So, given that they're very similar and grow in similar places (inner ear region) then they can affect the balance nerve just like an AN can.

Like the newscaster in the story, the last time I saw MsMaggie (only a few weeks post surgery), she looked great!  Luckily for her (MsMaggie) the facial nerve wasn't stretched to the point of serious facial weakness.

Regards,
Brian

[leapyrtwins]

Hey, did someone else post this many months ago (but older information) ?

I remember there was a celebrity of sorts (in addition to our own LA David  ) and then I kind of lost track of her story.

Thanks for posting this, Janet.

Jan (aka the other Janet)

[jazzfunkanne]

jan, was that the story about the male film actor?

[leapyrtwins]

No, that was Mark Ruffalo.

I'm thinking it was about some kind of newscaster.  There was someone, I forget his user name, who is a sportscaster on TV, but I also thought there was another "news person".

Doesn't really matter; it's just good to know that there are others "like us" out there 

Jan

[JerseyGirl2]

Jan,

I think I may remember the sportscaster to whom you're referring. Don't recall his name, but he was a 20-something sportscaster on the Fox Channel in Washington, DC. I remember that he had his surgery at House and posted a very detailed blog on his tv station's website. I don't think he posted very often on this forum afterwards, and I assumed he was one of those AN patients who came through his surgery with flying colors, recovered without complications, and has "moved on." Hope that this is what happened.

Catherine (JerseyGirl 2)

[Jim Scott]

Janet ~

Thanks for the link to the video of KOMO-TV (Seattle, WA) anchorwoman Kathi Goertzen and her tribulations with a recurring meningioma, which has been problematical for her, to say the least. 

Although a meningioma is somewhat different than an acoustic neuroma, they are similar enough to illustrate the difficulties inherent with this type of relatively small, benign tumor that happens to be in a very challenging location.   I'm a tad skeptical about the general public becoming all that more aware of ANs based on this locally well known newswoman's situation but the publicity can't hurt and may serve to educate some folks and, one hopes, make them better aware of these benign tumors that can cause so much trouble for the patient.

I'm pleased to learn Ms. Goertzen did well with her surgery and is able to resume her news anchor duties.

Jim

[LADavid]

Yeah Jan, I'm such a celebrity that agents and casting directors are pounding on my door pleading for me to come back.  I dropped an email to my agent the other day just to check in -- and I found out that she was in Mexico because things are so slow around here these days.  I think I picked the right time to play hookey.

And Dave Lutz was the newscaster from back east -- I think the DC area.

It is odd though.  Several weeks ago I was at the endodontist.  I mentioned to him that my jaw was sort of tight because I had an acoustic neuroma.  His response -- "Wow, that's really rare."  I forget that sometimes -- seems like most of the people I associate with have had them.  So to have well-known people that have had one is very rare.

[GM]

Wow!!  Excellent story...thanks for finding that.

[Sue]

Yes, one of the Seattle Forumites alerted us to this story last year sometime.  That was a very touching story and she's very inspirational.

Sue in Vancouver, USA

[LisaP]

Janet,

Thanks for that story, it sounds so close to an AN.  What an amazing person to have undergone and to share her story with everyone.

LisaP