A cheerleader from Kansas City Chiefs who believed that she was suffering from hearing loss continued to fight for her life after doctors had made a rare discovery.
After spending a decade on the performance for one of the largest NFL teams, who is going to the Super Bowl for the third time in a row this weekend, Shanna Adamic, 44, reported not to be unable to do so in 2011 right ear.
During the six -year period, the mother of the City of Kansas City visited several doctors who complained about constant headache, a partial loss of vision and unclear speech, but said that every time she was “wrongly diagnosed, diagnosed or even rejected as A tired overworked mother. '
Mrs Adamic told DailyMail.com: 'I was told that I may suffer from a cold to sleep apnea, sinus infection, Lemierre's disease, Vertigo.
“I was treated many, many times before dehydration. [My condition] the blame for hormonal changes that my children breastfeed, menstrualization.
“I felt crazy and I started to believe that there was nothing wrong with me.”
At one point a doctor suggested that she could suffer from ear damage because he was regularly surrounded by loud sounds in stadiums.
From an abundance of caution, she underwent a CT scan from her head and was told that her brain looked great. '
So it came as a complete shock that a tumor of two inches was found in Mrs Adamic's ear only a year later, dangerous against her brain.
Shanna Adamic (center) was a cheerleader from Kansas City Chiefs. She suffered from hearing loss and doctors found a tumor in her ear
For six years, the mother visited three countless doctors who tried to find out why she could no longer hear clearly, suffered from constant headache and a loss of vision
Mrs Adamic, now executive director of the Oracle Health Foundation, said this website: 'I received a CT head scan a year before I was diagnosed where I was told that my brains looked great and that I was probably just a tired, overworked mother . '
After viewing an interview with celebrities about similar symptoms during the Today Show and with some encouragement from her husband, she decided to undergo more tests and got an MRI.
The scan revealed that Mrs Adamic had an almost two-inch wide tumor in her right ear.
Known as an acoustic neuroma or vestibular schwannoma, the non-cancer-like tumor develops on the vestibular nerve that connects the inner ear with the brain.
It is known that the branches of the nerve influence the balance and hearing.
The development of the tumor is rare and occurs in about one in 100,000 people, around 2500 people every year. According to the Cleveland Clinic, they can probably be found in people between the ages of 65 and 74.
Although the cause of an acoustic neuroma is in most cases unknown, it can sometimes be linked to a problem with a gene on chromosome 22, which is associated with the immune system and birth defects.
Like most cases, Mrs Adamic's tumor was benign, but because of the location and the fact that it was almost the size of a golf ball, doctors thought it was life threatening because it compressed the brainstem.
“When I got my diagnosis, the doctor called it a ticking time bomb,” said Mrs. Adamic.
Mrs Adamic (Center) poses here with her colleague Kansas City Chiefs Cheerleaders prior to the start of the game between the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs on 14 September 2008 in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City
In a plea for help, Mrs. Adamic placed about her condition and asked for suggestions about what to do on Instagram
The former Cheerleader again made contact with her old university friend Dr. Amy Pittman, an otolaryngologist at Loyola Medicine in Illinois (right)
“And he said,” It urges you on and off “and I will never forget to hear that and think:” Okay, what should I do now? “
To save her life, doctors told her that she needed a translabyrinthine craniotomy to remove to the tumor.
However, her current doctor was unable to perform the operation and advised that she would find someone else.
In a plea for help, Mrs Adamic placed about her condition and asked for suggestions about what to do on Instagram.
Eventually the former Cheerleader made contact with her university friend Dr. Amy Pittman, an otolaryngologist at Loyola Medicine in Illinois who had responded to her post.
Dr. Pittman then passed her colleagues, Otological Surgeon Dr. John Leonetti and neurosurgeon Dr Douglas Anderson.
Days later Mrs Adamic made the trip to Loyola Medicine Center for the operation.
She said to the website: 'I remember that Dr. Anderson reassured me: 'You go to sleep and wake up and get your life back. '
Days later, Mrs. Adamic underwent a skull base operation in the Loyola Medicine Center
Mrs Adamic underwent a 13 -hour operation in which both doctors succeeded in removing 99 percent of the acoustic neuroma tumor
After years of physiotherapy and perseverance, Mrs. Adamic fully recovered and a recent MRI did not show any signs of the tumor
“Both doctors made sure that I really felt confident in the care that I would receive and the belief in them as a team that they could do this and give me my life back.”
Mrs Adamic underwent a 13 -hour surgery in which doctors removed 99 percent of the acoustic neuroma tumor.
When she woke up, she was left with a partial face on the right side of her face and could not hear from her right ear.
Mrs Adamic was unable to chew or close her right eye, but was determined to have a complete recovery: 'I think that daring optimism is something that is found when there is a kind of grim hope space. It is found in moments that are sometimes some of the darkest moments.
'At the time I found in that operation and woke up with my life, but then also a completely different version of me [of having ]One side paralysis and not knowing if I would get my facial function on that side, my mobility functions, all that.
'I had to dig a little deep at the time to think about how I would love this version of me that would come out and use this to be a positive force?
'And I remember that I wrote myself a note that I recorded in front of my mirror on the mirror, so that I would not look at the girl in the mirror that I did not recognize.
Mrs Adamic also noticed what was the most surprised by her and her family, was that she looked healthy despite the fact that a tumor grew in her ear
Mrs. Adamic here with her cheerleader friends
Her remark was: 'I will smile with all my teeth again. I will be able to swallow on both sides, I will close my eyes completely, I will be a better version of me. '
Talking about what convinced her to keep looking for six years of answers, she told Dailymail.com: 'I think I should continue to listen to this inner voice that continued to tell me that something was wrong. And it did.
“It constantly told me that something was wrong. I wasn't ready. And, after going back and you go back so often, you start to feel that you are actually quite crazy and you are: “Hey, maybe that thing is wrong.”
'But I kept listening to it and I think I can only have the ability and confidence in myself to say again. I'm going to talk to them again, I'm going to tell them that something is wrong again. '
After years of physiotherapy and perseverance, Mrs Adamic has a fully recovered and a recent MRI did not show any signs of the tumor.
Loyola Medicine also confirmed to DailyMail.com that she has not received or required any additional operations or treatment since the first 13-hour surgery.
'You know your body better than anyone else. And I think that's something that I take with me. That moment fits myself to listen to my inner voice every time and realize that I have to go forward to get the answers if I need them, “she finally said about her experience
Loyola Medicine also confirmed to DailyMail.com that she has not received or required any additional operations or treatment since the first 13-hour surgery
The institute also said there is no risk that it will develop another tumor on the other side of her face.
'Every day we walk into the room, the operating room, we want all patients to have the outcome that Shanna did. It was really remarkable and we are grateful that we helped, “said Dr. Leonetti.
And for everyone in a similar situation, Mrs. Adamic said: 'One of the things that I am certainly concentrating on is how important it is to argue for yourself, that you are your own best friend.
'You know your body better than anyone else. And I think that's something that I take with me. That moment fits myself to listen to my inner voice every time and realize that I have to go forward to get the answers when I need them, “she finally said about her experience.
