When Cheryl Broyles was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a deadly brain tumor, her goal was to outlive the disease’s 15-month prognosis long enough for the younger of her two toddler sons to reach kindergarten.
That was 22 years ago.
Broyles’ survival has been the result of luck, tumor location, and cutting-edge treatment and diagnostics.
She’s had multiple recurrences. UC San Francisco neurosurgeon Mitchel Berger has removed most of these using techniques like Gamma Knife surgery, which shoots intense, regionally precise doses of radiation at cancer cells.