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[SOUND] You know,
I still remember having the conversation with him.
Him calling me at work and telling me there was this very
scary thing that could cause permanent damage.
It was a little rough, kinda getting our minds wrapped around
the idea that this was actually happening.
[CROSSTALK] >> I'm a runner.
Physical activity has always been my outlet,
the way that I balance myself out.
I was stretching to go for a run.
And I guess I stretched a little bit too far and
I heard something pop in my back and
instantly knew something was wrong.
I had an MRI done.
I had a slightly herniated disk and a tumor.
>> Initially, you're just finding out.
Obviously, you have a tumor in your spine,
it's a very scary thing.
And that fear kind of permeates into everything.
>> I was terrified, I was absolutely terrified.
I'm an anxious person, by nature.
And I felt really uncomfortable with the doctors that we
had seen previously.
They wanted to cut me open right away.
So, I was hesitant to jump into a situation where I didn't have
all the information I needed, right away.
>> Aaron first came to my clinic in June 2011,
and he was diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor.
It's called the Schwannoma.
It is typically a benign tumor, but in 5% of patients,
it's malignant.
By the time he came to us, his symptoms had subsided.
He had a first opinion,
where he was told he needed emergent surgery.
And he was told that there's a significant risk of
a Dorsiflexion weakness, or foot drop.
And a lot of times if we feel that a tumor is benign.
Because of the location of the tumor, because of the nerves
involved, because of the function and the importance of
that function on somebody's ability to walk, let alone run.
We may just watch it to see the rate of growth.
>> He said, as long as you're comfortable enough to live your
life, and do the things that you need to do, work and
exercise until it starts to grow, and cause more problems.
We don't need to do the surgery, we'll just monitor it.
>> I wanted to make sure that I gave him an additional five,
six, seven years of a working neurological system.
>> Yes.
I'm gonna have you lie down on your back.
>> Sure.
>> After two and a half years of watching this tumor,
its symptoms as well as really graphic progression,
we had evidence that it had gotten significantly bigger.
We decided to proceed with a conversation with
him about the need for surgery at that point.
But I said to Aaron, we do a lot of these surgeries,
people seek us out from all over the world for this kind of care.
>> He made me understand the consequences, the good and
the bad of the surgery.
He gave me confidence that I was gonna be okay, or
have the best chance that I could possibly have to be okay.
The day of the surgery, somebody who is super anxious.
The whole trip down to Hopkins that morning, my wife kept
looking at me and asking if I was okay, because I was Placid.
I was calm.
I had a one-year-old son.
And I was determined to come out of it okay for him.
>> The operation took, I believe about four and a half,
five hours.
It went smoothly.
We went around the tumor, so we don't injure any of the nerves,
or any of the functions that was there.
We were able to remove the entire tumor, and
there was no damage to the nerves.
As anesthesia was waking him up, I stood at the side of the bed
and I asked him to move his ankle up and down.
And when he moved it, I felt a lot of relief.
[SOUND] >> Right now, I feel great.
I feel like my life is back to where it was.
I'm not perfect after a surgery like that, but
I can touch my toes standing up.
I'm back to running, almost as much as I was running before.
>> We've watched it for the past year, year and a half, and
things are looking very stable.
There's no need for radiation and no need for
any atrovent therapy.
>> Right before the surgery I was just very nervous
that I wouldn't be able to be the kind of
father that I wanted to be for my son.
We have a second son now.
We had him six weeks ago.
I can be the kind of father I wanna be, so everything's good.
Everything's good.
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