VIDEO: Patients with brain tumors may still thrive, work for years following diagnosis

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So, brain tumor awareness, for me, really what it means is I want everybody to know that my patients are important. And that's what it is, right? So many times I hear that story, I was in clinic today, I heard it multiple times today. Our patient, the family, they show up at a local emergency room or, you know, a primary care clinic. And in general, we are trained as physician to be scared about brain tumor and think that our patient are actively dying. And every day I have patient, even glioblastoma patient, that are three, four years from their diagnosis.

So for me, what is brain tumor awareness is just knowing that our patients are important, we need to continue research and we're making progress, and I want everybody to be aware that it's slow, but we are improving the quality of life of our patient. We are making new discovery. We have more and more therapy. And being aware that when you see a patient that has a brain tumor, not just say, "Oh, you know, I'm sorry of what you're dealing with," but also saying, "How can I help you? How can I help your life today be easier?" So that's what it means, awareness. Raising money for research, but also knowing that my patient, they're still alive, they're still thriving, they still raise children, they still want to go to work if it's possible, and they're important, and it doesn't mean that, because they have a diagnosis of brain tumor, they will die in the next few weeks or few days. They might still have years of good quality of life with their family.