Cheryl Broyles – Who am I ?
Seattle Washington 2010I was born in 1967, in the little town of Yuba City Ca. Was a teenager during the crazy weird 80s. Went to college and got a B.S. degree at Humboldt State University as a wildlife Biologist. Fell in love with Matt Broyles, another Humboldt wildlife biologist, and we got married the day after I graduated May 19, 1990. We moved to Oregon to save wildlife species and their valuable habitat! I got a job with the Forest Service and Matt with the Bureau of Land Management (B.L.M.). We both worked to save spotted owls that needed some old growth forest. I worked as a wildlife biologist for 10 years, changing from the federal government job, to working with Boise Cascade.
Then in June 2000 I was diagnosed with the GBM brain tumor. I quit my job as a wildlife biologist because my brain just could not handle it all anymore, and I wanted to be a “stay at home” mommy. My two boys, Grant and Clint, were only 3 and 1 years old.
Over the last 14 years I’ve had 5 recurrences of the GBM, I’ve gone through 6 brain surgeries (2000, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2014), conformal radiation, and over 3 years on Temodar.
I’ve decided my new job is “An Encourager!” I often spend hours each day, while the boys are at school, writing back to other brain tumor patients who contacted me via email with question like “What do you do to survive?” “What treatments are you on?” “What doctors do you see?” “What bad side effects and disabilities do you have?” …….
I often get the same questions patients newly diagnosed with brain tumors ask. And I love being there to encourage others, like Matthew Fullerton did for me back when I was first diagnosed with a GBM – KOKO keep on keeping on!
So I decided to put together a web page, hoping to reach out to others climbing their own life’s mountains. So now I’m not a wildlife biologist anymore, my new job is “An Encourager”. Cheering those on battling their own brain tumors. So please feel free to contact me via email, and I’ll do what I can to give you hope!
http://www.cherylbroyles-gbm.com/AboutCheryl
LIVING LIFE WITH BRAIN CANCER
IS LIKE TRYING TO HUG A CACTUS!!!
We all love “life” itself. It’s not always easy or enjoyable, but we love to live. We want to grasp onto life, reaching out to LIVE it and enjoying every moment. However when your life includes battling brain cancer ( probably any type of cancer), it’s like trying to hug a cactus.
It’s like the cactus is our life. YES I do love cacti!!! And cactus are so beautiful. When I try to reach out to give it a hug, I get poked, stabbed, scratch, podded, and disturbed in many ways (especially if I fall into one!).
It’s like that with life in the “brain tumor world”. Yes, the life is still precious, and I do still love it. But it comes along with many spines and pokes.
GOSH lately, I’ve been having so many seizures. SCARY! I’m having a good day, then BAM, get hit by a bad seizure, just like falling into a cactus! I only have my seizures in the middle of the night. If something wakes me up, TRIGGER, then I have a seizure. My seizures are lasting a long time. One lasted 45 minutes (well it was 5 seizures back to back). On Saturday, I had to rush to the Emergency Room, because my seizure would not stop!!!
So finally I went onto the Keppra anti-seizure meds. I HATE being on meds. But seizures are worse. I’d love to hear any thoughts, ideas, etc. from anyone else that is having seizures, especially ones only in the middle of the night. Are others on Keppra too? Or is there a better anti-seizure med, with less side effects? Do others have LONG seizures that don’t seem to want to stop? What do you do?
OK ending with some good news. I just had my last brain MRI last week and it looked GREAT! No seen tumor! That was a good day, when I was not “poked or scratched”.
This June 2016, will be my 16th year since I was diagnosed with the GBM. I need to plan some awesome thing to do to celebrate surviving for 16 years! All you brain tumor fighters, keep up the fight to surviving brain cancer, even though at times (unfortunately often) it’s like trying to hug a cactus!
This video Published April 7, 2013 is the most inspirational for me in the 10 + years that I have been researching cancer.
Special Mention goes out to Kriss Carr.
Watch Kriss Carr as she explains her fight with cancer. Watch as she explains the benefits of juicing, while using the Green Star. This intriguing documentary is available by visiting http://kriscarr.com/meet-kris/ Learn more by visiting http://my.crazysexylife.com/!!!