Contributed by Chris Lane
Cliff McBride was a practicing attorney just going about his normal life in April of 2006. His life changed forever on a Monday when he went to meet his brother for lunch.
“During the meal my right lower arm began to shake uncontrollably and even using my left hand I could not stop it from shaking for about a minute,” McBride recalled. “I figured it was just a muscle spasm and was a one-time thing. However my brother and the restaurant owner who is a friend thought differently and insisted that I go to the doctor.”
At this point, like many patients who are diagnosed with a brain tumor, McBride had no idea what was going on inside of his body. The symptoms of a brain tumor can be so subtle that they may go un-noticed for significant periods of time. And, sometimes, when untreated, that time can be too long and the results can be life-altering or even terminal.
The shaking in the hand stopped and McBride said he felt fine, but followed their advice and let his brother drive him to the family doctor.
“When I got to the doctor’s office I did not have the fine motor ability to pick up the pen to sign-in,” he said of his arrival at the office. “My family doctor did some muscle and strength testing and then sent me to the hospital for an MRI.”
Early the next morning, the staff neurologist at the hospital came in to see me and informed McBride he had a brain tumor and that he needed surgery.
“It was unexpected news for me because I had not had any of the symptoms normally associated with a brain tumor. I did not have headaches, dizziness, blurry vision. But, after hearing the news, I contacted my family physician for a recommendation on what to do. He called the Medical University of South Carolina and got me consultation with a neurosurgeon for that afternoon,” McBride recollected. The neurosurgeon confirmed the diagnosis of a brain tumor called a Meningioma and said the tumor was the size of a tennis ball.
Two days after having lunch with his brother, an angiogram was performed. And, just four days after this, he was having brain surgery to remove the tumor. The surgery was a success and McBride was released the following Thursday, April 27, 2006.
“I was blessed that my surgery went well and was even more blessed during my two-week check-up when I officially learned that my tumor was benign,” said a relieved McBride. For the first two years following the operation, McBride had difficulty with a common post surgery condition of many brain surgery patients. He would have four seizures during this time span and would be placed on anti-seizure medications. Now, it has been three years since his last seizure, and other than anti-seizure medications his only ongoing treatment is a yearly MRI to make sure the tumor is not growing back.
Five years later, McBride is still practicing law as a senior staff attorney at South Carolina Legal Services and leading a normal life. He is also an active member of the Florence Neurosurgery and Spine Brain Tumor Support Group, which has been meeting since 2006. Started by Becky Simmons, whose husband passed of a brain tumor in 1997, the group allows survivors, supporters and family members to share their experiences, and knowledge of this diagnosis with each other. It also gives them an opportunity to meet with medical professionals who treat this and other neurological abnormalities on a daily basis. “The Brain Tumor Support Group meetings allow me an outlet to discuss my on-going issues, concerns and challenges with people who better understand my situation,” said a thankful McBride.
“It also allows me to provide support for others going through similar situations to mine. I know the meetings give me encouragement and support. I hope that I am able to give back to the others in the group that same feeling.” Some people believe that a diagnosis such as a brain tumor is automatically a death sentence. But, McBride is a living testimony to that fact that there is life to be lived, there are options, and there is a lot to be said when the will to survive is stronger than the struggles of a medical diagnosis.