The Story of Ada and her Glioblastoma

These days I receive the story of Ada and her Glioblastoma. It is a story of hope and I therefore decided to report it in full as Ada wrote it to give courage to all those who are living with a glioblastoma.

“At the end of May 2021, returning from a day of work almost like any other, if it weren’t for the severe headache that had been tormenting me for a week, I stopped in a lay-by with the car to satisfy a irresistible drowsiness favored by the toradol I had taken to calm the headache. I fell asleep in the back seats and woke up in intensive care.

It was a miracle that I didn’t feel ill while I was driving, thus avoiding causing an accident. I don’t remember anything about the illness; I only know that I first found myself in intensive care, with confused memories, and then in the neurosurgery department in Sassari. Only later was I able to reconstruct what happened.

The providential phone call from a friend of mine, to whom I owe my life, alerted the ambulance which rescued me. I had a brain hemorrhage and brain edema produced by a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in the parietal lobe, which I knew nothing about. Unfortunately, I was lucky enough that it was located in a shallow location. After decompression of the brain, the entire tumor was removed without leaving any motor or intellectual effects.

I underwent treatment with temozolomide and concomitant radiotherapy for two months, followed by another 12 months of temozolomide. On May 28, 2024, I will celebrate three years since my diagnosis. I’m still alive, I’m well and I work as if nothing had ever happened to me.

I know I’m lucky, at least until today, but I hope that research continues, for me and for others, so that we can survive the prognosis that is still poor today. I thank you for the opportunity to talk about it and read the stories of others, to whom I wish the best.

A hug, Ada”