MILE 9: Tom Nyman - Brain Cancer

Tom Nyman

May 27, 1958 - May 21, 2011

Tom and his extended family.
Tom is in the white hat. Karen is in the first row, second from the right. 

Tom and his immediate family.

Tom and his wife, Kathy

Tom is the uncle of my good friend, Karen. 

This is Tom's story, told by Karen:  

In early February of 2010, Uncle Tom began experiencing headaches.  It lasted for about three weeks, but he didn't think anything of it.  He worked hard and thought he was just experiencing stress headaches.  As he was working out one night after work, he bent down to pick up a tissue off the floor.  He got lightheaded and smelled a strong ammonia scent.  It scared him enough to come home and make a doctor appointment.  Before he could get to the doctor, Tom got very sick and vomited all day.  They went to the St. Francis emergency room.  They did a CT scan, blood work, and told Tom that he had a mass in his brain.  He was transferred to St. Luke's (3/1/2010), where they did an MRI. The following day he had a craniotomy to remove about 70% of the tumor growing in the right temporal area of the brain.  They could not go much further because of the optic nerve and didn't want him to go blind.  The results came back as Glioblastoma Multiforme-(GBM), which is the most common and deadliest of malignant primary brain tumors  

From there, he had 6 weeks of radiation (30 treatments) and 6 weeks of the oral form of chemotherapy Temodar (150mg).  Following that, they doubled the dose of Temodar (300mg).  The plan was to take a double dose for 5 days a month and then nothing for 23 days.  After 5 days, his blood counts dropped too low and they had to discontinue the Temodar.  By July of 2010, Tom's condition was getting worse.  They decided to get a second opinion at Froedtert.  His MRI on July 22, 2010, showed a lot of growth and they performed brain surgery for the second time.  This time they removed as much of the tumor as they could. His eyesight was compromised a bit on the left side, but he had a couple wonderful months following the second surgery.  During this time his family took a beautiful trip to Hawaii!  

Following his second surgery, they chose Avastin (he had an infusion every 3 weeks--the first on August 19, 2010 until March 2, 2011).  He handled the Avastin treatments well, but his body was becoming weaker and his energy level was pretty low.  In this time, he had three seizures.  The first one was on August 29, 2010, and the second two were in March of 2011. 

Tom began struggling with the decision of continuing treatments and in March of 2011, he decided to go on hospice care.  His quality of life was decreasing.  He could not work any longer, he could not drive, and he was getting very weak.  Tom was also very emotionally depressed.  It was a very difficult decision, but Uncle Tom always said it was about the quality of life, not quantity.  As hard as it was, we had to respect his choice!  On May 21, 2011, Tom passed away very peacefully at home surrounded by his family. He was 6 days shy of 53 years old!

Tom was one of the most active people in our family.  In fact, every time he came to Kiel, he would climb up the silo and take pictures.  He was always the one at family events with a camcorder and a witty joke.  His charisma and love of life carries on through his three sons 
and his grandchildren. His loving wife, Kathy, is one of the strongest women I know!

Tom will represent MILE 9 in honor of his wedding anniversary and his 3 sons' birthdays that are on the 3rd, which adds up to 9.

Make a donation in memory of Tom and others we have lost, those still fighting, and those who may one day be spared this fight because of what we‘re doing. 

Give to make yourself a part of this historical effort. 

Visit: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/andreavorpahl/stridingforacure