Written by Vaishali Palommella

April 2020 – the infamous ‘COVID-19 lockdown’ was in full effect, and we found out we were pregnant with our second child, Sonya, due Dec 27th 2020! Luca just turned 1 in February 2020!

May 2020 – Dan started to have multiple headaches a week. Due to the lockdown, PCPs did not want to meet anyone in the office, so he opted to have Teledoc visits. 3 separate appointments, 3 different doctors, all stated that since he was a healthy 30-year-old, the headaches were tension headaches. They assumed the headaches were due to having a 1-year-old toddler, baby on the way, owning his business, and current COVID restrictions – The takeaway was to take pain relievers and drink more water. The headaches started to get worse.

In June 2020, when businesses started opening doors again, we brainstormed on what may be causing these headaches – grinding his teeth? Eyeglass prescription changed? We finally were able to make an appointment with an Optometrist, where Dan went to get his eyes checked to see if his prescription changed. The Optometrist notices that his optic nerve was inflamed and told Dan he needed to go to WILLS Eye Center in Philadelphia ASAP. The next day he and his parents drove down to WILLS and the physician at WILLS rushed him to get a MRI. They found a tennis ball sized brain tumor compressing on his optic nerve and pressing on his Broca’s area. He was admitted to Jefferson Neuroscience for emergency surgery. He had the surgery June 5, 2020, and it went amazingly well!

Dr. Kevin Judy was able to remove ~90% of the tumor (diagnosed with Glioblastoma – Grade IV). Dan recovered miraculously well after 2-3 weeks post-op. We are truly blessed how well Dan overcame his surgery. He was adamant to go back to work, only 3 weeks after being admitted to the hospital! His perseverance and work ethic were always incomparable.

His team at Jefferson Neuro, led by Dr. Nina Martinez and Dr. Kevin Judy, have been ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and has taken great care of Dan. After surgery, Dan had a very aggressive treatment of immunotherapy, chemotherapy coupled with radiation for 30 days continuing the chemotherapy for 6 more rounds throughout the year, with the last round in February 2021. Since then, Dan wears his Optune® device and is doing well (knock on wood!). Dan had a couple of setbacks, but he overcame them like a boss! He never holds back and overcomes any obstacle in his path. We are optimistic and hope a targeted agent will soon be available!

Dan is the most selfless person I know. He always makes sure his family is taken care of. He always tries to take stress off my shoulders. Words cannot express how much he means to us and how much we love him. He is our everything, our rock, our fighter. He has been so brave, courageous, positive, and persevering. I admire him so much. We are so blessed and so proud of him.

We want to thank our village – we are so appreciative for them. Without them, without their shoulders to lean on, we would have crumbled. Thank you for everything. From the bottoms of our hearts – thank you! To our parents, our rocks, thank you for all your endless love, support, help, and continued sacrifices. We love you so much and are so grateful and blessed to have you always by our sides –through thick and thin.

As Dan said to me, 2 weeks after his surgery: ‘I got this – WE got this – we WILL overcome this’. Always <3 He is the reason I became a patient ambassador for Head for the Cure. One of the foundations goal is to increase awareness and advocacy for brain cancer which is a very large passion of mine. Early diagnosis is the key, and I hope to spread this message to as many people as possible.