A brain tumour survivor talks about her diagnosis and treatment, and how a Mark Ruffalo video helped her recover from risky surgery
- When Annie Lee Siswojo was diagnosed with a rare tumour called an acoustic neuroma, she was surprised, as she’d always been healthy
- The benign tumour had been growing in her ear canal for 10 years without symptoms
Last year Annie Lee Siswojo had a tumour removed from her brain. Today she’s in a celebratory mood, happy and grateful for all life has to offer. “I like to mark every milestone, no matter how small,” she says. “Today it’s been six months since my operation.”
Siswojo says she was “beyond shocked” when diagnosed with acoustic neuroma, a rare tumour that grows in the canal connecting the brain to the inner ear.
While this type of tumour, also known as a vestibular schwannoma, is benign – not a cancerous growth – it can still be life-threatening. Without treatment, vital nerves including the hearing, facial and balance nerves can be affected. In the worst cases, the slow-growing tumour can encroach on the brain.
“I’d never heard of acoustic neuroma before my diagnosis, so I read as much as I could on the subject, maybe a little too much,” she says.
