Sometimes, you just have to laugh. Just ask Liz Holzemer.
Fans of The Late Show with David Letterman can appreciate this brain tumor survivor’s off-center and self-deprecating sense of humor. A mother and freelance writer, Liz hopes to someday achieve her goal of delivering her own “Top Ten Blonde and Brain-Impaired Jokes” on his show.
But when first faced with the diagnosis of a meningioma, a benign but often debilitating brain tumor…she wasn’t laughing.
It was February of 2000. Liz, a seemingly healthy and attractive 32-year-old, and her husband, a major league pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, had been trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child for over a year. While doctors dismissed their difficulties as simply hormonal or stress-related, Liz remained concerned and persisted for a more complete diagnosis.
“My cycles had altogether ceased,” said Liz. “Despite battery after battery of tests, doctors were unable to determine the cause of my infertility. Eventually, I was told my ovulatory capacity had prematurely shut down.”
Liz continued to ask the doctors about other possibilities. Finally, after experiencing frequent migraines and hearing “swishing” sounds in her ears, she convinced her doctors to perform an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan of her brain.
“I was exasperated, and I needed to know if this would provide an answer, the missing piece of the puzzle,” said Liz. “I would not rest easy until I had pursued my gut feeling – that something was terribly wrong.”
The results left her and her husband stunned. The brain scan discovered a baseball-sized tumor pressing against her optic nerve, carotid artery, and sinus cavity. In short, she was only days from slipping into a coma and possibly death. According to her doctors, she had likely had the slow-growing tumor for roughly ten years.
Six years and two surgeries later, Liz is now the mother of two healthy and happy “miracle” children – Hannah and Hunter – the children she was told she would never have. “My kids saved my life,” states the upbeat survivor. “If I had not been trying to have them, I would not have found the tumor.”
