Lauren Oldak (Howard)
Dear Classmates,
I was diagnosed in December with a glioblastoma -- an aggressive and incurable type of brain cancer. (I'm in good company; Teddy Kennedy, John McCain, and Beau Biden all had it.) I have received radiation and chemotherapy treatments at Georgetown Hospital's Lombardi Cancer Center and have just begun consultation with the experts at Duke University's Brain Cancer Center in an effort to get a better quality of life for now. I'm also getting physical, occupational, and speech therapy at home.
Happily, I'm not in any pain and had no bad side effects from the initial round of chemo, which I should be resuming soon. And I generally try to keep my spirits up, despite significant fatigue, weakness, and communication challenges.
The doctors assure me that there's nothing I could have done to avoid brain cancer -- which is at least a little comforting. It just happens and I'll try to make the best of the time I have left.
Warm regards to you all,
Lauren (Oldak) Howard
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