A fun, exciting life filled with a bunch of friends and family. That is exactly what Zach Beyer was experiencing during his freshmen year of college. While balancing his school work with finding time for friends and family was difficult even for Zach. During high school Zach had maintained a 4. 0 grade point average while balancing both soccer and track during his senior year. He had another brother Nick, and a sister Mackenzie. His parents both married in there early 40’s. Life couldn’t be more perfect, having fun at college while maintaining good grades was a piece of cake for Zach.
It wasn’t until on December 28, 2011 that all of this would change. His mother had been sick the prior week and was still feeling a bit under the weather. Not thinking too much about it Zach proceeded to go out with his brother. While they were gone Zach’s mother Karen started to have what was thought to be a stroke, thankfully his dad Nick was there to aid Karen. Nick rushed to the phone dialing 911 in a speedy manor. He was connected with an operator as he began to tell them the problem, after hanging up he knew an ambulance would be rushed to his house immediately.
Moments later they arrived proceeding inside the house, Karen was on the couch not responding to anyone. The ambulance tec thought she was experience a stroke and was rushed to Holland Hospital only to find out it was much more harmful. Shortly after arriving to Holland Hospital Karen underwent CAT scans to reveal the more devastating news. Receiving the CAT scans back the doctor looked at them carefully, almost as if he was decoding a script. He told us that Karen would have to be taken to Spectrum Health Care in Grand Rapids.
She was transported to Spectrum to have more CAT scans done to find out the problem. The doctor in Grand Rapids was the first to tell us the news. Karen had been diagnosed with Glioblastoma Mutiforme Stage 4. Experts define Glioblastoma as “Gliomas comprise a heterogeneous group of neoplasms that differ in location within the central nervous system. ” Initial symptoms are known to be headaches and nausea, increased pressure on the brain cause by the “bulk” of the tumor or an overflow of cerebrospinal fluid can cause the patient to go “numb” so to speak.
Physically, having to go through all that pain hurts the not only the person but the family as well. Zach overwhelmed by everything is unaware of how or if he can help his mother. Zach being a cousin of mine I asked him to describe what he was feeling on this certain day. He said, ‘That was the scariest day of my life. When I first got to the hospital I waited around for the doctors to finally give us some kind of information. After hearing that my mom had cancer was heart dropping. Being extremely sad by this bump in the road I tried to pull for my family in friends.
” Zach shortly after figuring out more about Glioblastoma he realized how bad this cancer truly was. The doctor informed Zach that his mother would only have a year left. Shocked by this he was uncertain what the future would hold. At the age of 19 hearing this kid of new was extremely tough for Zach. Being hit with such news was hard. Since Karen was diagnosed during Christmas break Zach was forced into returning to college to start his new semester. During his time at college Karen underwent two surgeries’ to remove the softball size tumor in her brain.
Safely removing family and friends believed that Karen could make a recovery from this small detour. Waiting a couple weeks after the surgeries’ Karen was making extremely good progress; she was transferred from Spectrum to Mary Free Bed for further rehabilitation. Remembering that Zach is unaware of the future he still looks on the bright side of the situation telling people about the progress that she has made and avoiding the shocking news that his mother was told to only have less than a year to live.
While at Mary Free Bed Karen was starting to walk again by herself and being able to function with limited help from others. While Karen was making good progress I asked Zach what he thought of how quickly she was being able to function shortly after the surgeries’. He said, “It’s quite remarkable that she’s making such a quick recovery. She can almost walk on her own now and that’s a huge step this soon. ” Always staying positive was something that I learned from Zach, even though his mother had been diagnosed with the most severe cancer he constantly was bring up all of the good from this situation and never dwelling on the negative side.
Spending a short time at Mary Free Bed Karen was released and was able to go home. At home is when problems start to occur again. Karen started to have seizures and wasn’t able to keep any food down. It wasn’t until a very serious seizure occurred that made everyone realize that things weren’t so good after all. During the seizure she lost all movement in her body and wasn’t responsive.
The ambulance was called once more and she was first taken to Holland Hospital. At Holland Hospital she underwent a quick CAT scan before she was transferred to Spectrum. The CAT scan showed doctors that another tumor had formed in her brain and it was very serious. Still non responsive at Spectrum Zach and the family nervously waited by the bed side to see if Karen would wake. Three days later Karen Beyer passed away. She lost her life to cancer after three months. Losing someone isn’t easy to deal with.
Shortly after the passing people think about the moments they took for granite. Or about all those times they could have spent with the person, but choose differently. Zach was more focused on the positive. Remembering all the good times and quality moments he spent with his mother. The key is to stay positive. If you dwell about all the negative things that are bothering you, then you won’t be able to have fun as a person. Instead focus on the things that make you happy and smile.