Her Husband Was Diagnosed With Terminal Brain Cancer After He Had Trouble Reading His Emails
On Halloween 2024, one couple’s lives were turned upside down forever. It was the day that TikToker Blair (@blairdreessen) found out that something was seriously wrong with her husband’s brain.
The day started off normally, with her husband, Kyle, going to work, and their 13-year-old son going to school.
Blair was working from home. The next thing she knew, her husband was calling her. He told her that he hadn’t felt well all day.
He was experiencing pressure in his head and couldn’t read his emails. He could see the words, but nothing made sense, and his coworker had to help him read them.
Since Kyle was fully dressed up in a costume for Halloween, she suggested that he take off his mask because it might be restricting him. When he got home from work, she noticed that his eyes did not look normal.
She dropped him off at a walk-in clinic, where he was told that he needed to go to the emergency room because he seemed to have had a mini-stroke in the middle of the night.
Because it was Halloween and the next day was Kyle’s birthday, Blair tried not to freak out and continue on with their regularly scheduled activities so their youngest child wouldn’t worry. There was a block party thrown by their neighborhood later in the evening, and they had planned on attending.
Before they got to the block party, Kyle called and said that they might’ve found a mass in his brain. Blair’s sister’s husband picked up her son so she could go to the emergency room with Kyle.
When she arrived, she learned that Kyle had a golf ball-sized tumor in his left temporal lobe. All his symptoms were because of the tumor, not a stroke like they initially thought.
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He needed surgery right away, and he was being transferred to a different hospital. It all happened so fast that she could barely process anything.
She ran home to take care of the dogs and pack a suitcase for Kyle because he would have to stay in the hospital overnight. Then, she dropped it off and had to go back home again. At five in the morning, she returned to the hospital.
According to the neurology team, the brain scans suggested that the tumor was cancerous. Then, they moved forward with the surgery.
The surgeons were able to remove 80 to 85 percent of the tumor. They did not want to risk getting any more out because of the way the tumor was positioned near Kyle’s optic nerve.
Eventually, Kyle woke up, and he seemed to be functioning well except for being exhausted, confused, and anxious.
Blair stayed by his side all day and night. He started feeling a little better the next day. He spent a total of three nights in the hospital.
Over the next several weeks, different family members came to stay with them at their house. During that time, they were waiting for his pathology report.
The day before Thanksgiving, they got a phone call confirming that the tumor was cancerous. It was considered grade four terminal brain cancer, which is called astrocytoma IDH mutation.
Even now, after many months of doctor’s appointments, Blair still feels like she hasn’t fully processed the diagnosis.
Hopefully, by sharing their story, Blair can raise awareness of brain cancer and lead science a step closer to finding a cure or at least to extending the lives of brain cancer patients.
More About:Human Interest
