- I woke up in the middle of the night
with the worst migraine that I had ever experienced.
I decided to go to the hospital
because I knew something had to be wrong.
When the doctor walked in and said
we have some news to tell you, I wasn't prepared for it.
They said, "You have a brain tumor."
I am Tamara Termin,
and this is my Mom, Princess Hors-Durant.
I've always struggled with migraines,
but this particular time was different.
This migraine lasted at that point for five days.
- Tamara is usually very active and vivacious,
but she was totally laid out for the whole time.
So yes, it was a difficult time.
- On the fifth day, I couldn't take it anymore.
I decided to go to the hospital
and that's when they did all of the tests.
They did the CAT scan, they did the MRI.
They actually also did a spinal tap
to make sure I didn't have meningitis.
They said, "You have a brain tumor
and we need Neurosurgery to come in and speak to you."
I didn't expect to hear this news,
and so obviously at that moment, it felt like time stopped.
I proceeded to do things as I normally would.
I danced with my daughter.
We've been doing that for years.
I was in her recitals,
and that was our time to connect.
That's when I discovered some problems
started happening.
I always felt like I was going to fall.
When I did turns, I always felt very dizzy,
and I thought I had vertigo.
So naturally I went to my neurologist.
- We knew that that decision would always come.
We just didn't know when.
We were hoping it would be many years in the future,
but it was a decision that we had to make.
- I'm a pharmaceutical rep and I began mentioning it to...
what I was going through to some of my doctors,
and one doctor in particular said,
"You may want to get three opinions, Tamara."
When I sat in that seat and I spoke to Dr. John Lee,
I knew I had a connection with him right away,
so I knew where I was going to have the surgery
and I set up everything with him.
- Tamara had a tumor that was growing in her head,
and this tumor was exerting pressure on her brain.
It was starting to cause headaches.
It was starting to cause her to be off balance,
and it was affecting her ability
to kind of, coordinate her movements,
and this is affecting her life, her livelihood,
her being a mother.
- It was difficult because it was brain surgery,
and, that was my daughter, the only one I have.
- I approached her about getting involved in a study
and this really was a study
because she was the first patient we tried it on.
- He told me we have a procedure
that will light up your tumor and make it glow.
This research will allow us to be able to hopefully measure
and get more accurate readings on the tumor.
- If we can make tumors glow, then we can find lymph nodes
and if we can find lymph nodes, we don't need pathology.
If we don't need pathology,
our accuracy is going to get better.
Maybe there's going to be a day where it doesn't matter
whether you're stage 1 or stage 4 lung cancer
or any cancer.
We can take you to the operating room
and maybe cure you.
- When she said that they were going to
put her in a clinical trial, she was confident in it.
She was confident in him.
She had a positive attitude and that's all I needed to know.
- I just wanted to be able to help
and be of help to anyone in the future
that may have been going through what I was.
So I said if this will help with research, absolutely.
Dr. Lee: It really was remarkable.
As a surgeon, I see a lot of amazing things,
and this was like a lightbulb.
The tumor was as bright as a lightbulb.
Tamara: The surgery was a success.
He said, "Tamara, I don't have to see you back
for another two years. Everything looks great."
And that was the best news at that point.
- Based on her MRI and based on my impression,
this would be considered a gross total resection.
Everything is out.
She's better, and her balance is better.
Her headaches are gone.
She's going to live a more normal life.
- It's taken some time for everything to come back,
but from where I was last year to this year,
I've seen tremendous improvement.
And Dr. Lee, I always tell him, he saved my life.