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Hello! My name is Felicia Robinson and I want to tell you a little bit about my journey and fighting brain tumors.
I was diagnosed back in October 2008 with a 2 cmm Jugular Foramen Meningioma laying in the skull base of my head right near my brain stem and cental nervous system. I was seen by a Neurosurgeon at Cooper University Hospital for about a year and half to try and determine the right type of treatment and if he was even able to remove it because of the exremely dangerous location it was in plus he was not considered a Skull Based Surgeon. After doing countless research and considering Jefferson University Hospital, he was put in contact with Dr. James K. Liu at the Rutgers Neurological Institute Of New Jersey. He is one of the top Skull Based surgeons in the country with a complication rate of 3%. He immediately schedule a appoiment with me to disscuse removal options plus getting another MRI done to determind the new size of the tumor which now was at 3-3 1/2 cmm. He explained to me that with tumors of this size radiation treatment would be out of the question because the rays would not be strong enough to get rid of the tumor. I was then schedule in September 2010 for the most life changing experience ever, brain surgery.
My surgery was broken down in 3 parts. The first part caused them to go through my right leg to enter certain blood vessles that were connected to my brain and tumor to basically bring the tumor down on its knees and to stop the blood flow to it. The second part of the procedure which took 12 hrs was to disconnect my left ear to be able to enter through the skull. The third part which also took 12 hours was the actual resection of the tumor itself. After a long 24 hours of surgery, Dr. Liu was only able to remove 98% of the tumor. He said it was like pulling gum out of your hair and if he touch those nerves I would have had permanent damage. He also explained that I would need MRIs done every 6 months too a year to try and catch the tumor before it once again grows back.
Over those years me and my family struggled with health insurance. Trying to qualify for certain programs while they were telling us my husand made to much even though I still had a medical condition. Within the last 4 years I was only able to get 2 MRIs done to check on the remaing piece of tumor. It is now 2015 and the tumor has grown back at 2-1/2 cmm plus a new tumor on my right side near my optic nerve at 1/2-1cmm. At my follow up appointment in April 2015 with Dr. Liu, he explained that he would prefer not cutting open what he had already surgically did and did not want to put me through 2 MAJOR brain surgeries before the age of 30. He went on to explain that if he chooses to operate on it if radiation does not work on the 2-2 1/2 cmm tumor, I am looking at permanent damage to that area. I will have permanent damage to my hearing regardless. I will definitely need a hearing-aid in my near future, there is no way around that.
I am reaching out to family and friends to see if anyone would be willing to help and donate to our health insurance and my medical bills. Our bills at home plus all of my medical expenses are causing us to fall behind with 2 small children. My bills are now rolling in after the insurance company pays their part and its making things extremely hard for us. My brain will be monitored for the rest of my life and if we fall behind on paying certain bills they will deny any future MRIs, CT scans or anything that is beneficial to my health and life. I am not asking to break your pockets, all I'm asking for is something small to help make sure I get the certain medical treatment I need. I will be starting radiation treatment on Monday August 24th at 8:30am. My insurance company has not decided if they are going to fully cover that or not so there is a GREAT chance that we will get a outragous bill once I am done. I want to thank everyone that took the time to read my story and considered donating or already did!!! We truely and deeply appreciate all the help!!!
The Robinson Family
I was diagnosed back in October 2008 with a 2 cmm Jugular Foramen Meningioma laying in the skull base of my head right near my brain stem and cental nervous system. I was seen by a Neurosurgeon at Cooper University Hospital for about a year and half to try and determine the right type of treatment and if he was even able to remove it because of the exremely dangerous location it was in plus he was not considered a Skull Based Surgeon. After doing countless research and considering Jefferson University Hospital, he was put in contact with Dr. James K. Liu at the Rutgers Neurological Institute Of New Jersey. He is one of the top Skull Based surgeons in the country with a complication rate of 3%. He immediately schedule a appoiment with me to disscuse removal options plus getting another MRI done to determind the new size of the tumor which now was at 3-3 1/2 cmm. He explained to me that with tumors of this size radiation treatment would be out of the question because the rays would not be strong enough to get rid of the tumor. I was then schedule in September 2010 for the most life changing experience ever, brain surgery.
My surgery was broken down in 3 parts. The first part caused them to go through my right leg to enter certain blood vessles that were connected to my brain and tumor to basically bring the tumor down on its knees and to stop the blood flow to it. The second part of the procedure which took 12 hrs was to disconnect my left ear to be able to enter through the skull. The third part which also took 12 hours was the actual resection of the tumor itself. After a long 24 hours of surgery, Dr. Liu was only able to remove 98% of the tumor. He said it was like pulling gum out of your hair and if he touch those nerves I would have had permanent damage. He also explained that I would need MRIs done every 6 months too a year to try and catch the tumor before it once again grows back.
Over those years me and my family struggled with health insurance. Trying to qualify for certain programs while they were telling us my husand made to much even though I still had a medical condition. Within the last 4 years I was only able to get 2 MRIs done to check on the remaing piece of tumor. It is now 2015 and the tumor has grown back at 2-1/2 cmm plus a new tumor on my right side near my optic nerve at 1/2-1cmm. At my follow up appointment in April 2015 with Dr. Liu, he explained that he would prefer not cutting open what he had already surgically did and did not want to put me through 2 MAJOR brain surgeries before the age of 30. He went on to explain that if he chooses to operate on it if radiation does not work on the 2-2 1/2 cmm tumor, I am looking at permanent damage to that area. I will have permanent damage to my hearing regardless. I will definitely need a hearing-aid in my near future, there is no way around that.
I am reaching out to family and friends to see if anyone would be willing to help and donate to our health insurance and my medical bills. Our bills at home plus all of my medical expenses are causing us to fall behind with 2 small children. My bills are now rolling in after the insurance company pays their part and its making things extremely hard for us. My brain will be monitored for the rest of my life and if we fall behind on paying certain bills they will deny any future MRIs, CT scans or anything that is beneficial to my health and life. I am not asking to break your pockets, all I'm asking for is something small to help make sure I get the certain medical treatment I need. I will be starting radiation treatment on Monday August 24th at 8:30am. My insurance company has not decided if they are going to fully cover that or not so there is a GREAT chance that we will get a outragous bill once I am done. I want to thank everyone that took the time to read my story and considered donating or already did!!! We truely and deeply appreciate all the help!!!
The Robinson Family