It was a life-changing selfie.
Eight years ago, Megan Trautwein traveled to New York City to visit her late cousin Tony Martinez, who lived in Harlem.
“It was so much fun just taking pictures and seeing the scene,” the energetic 33-year-old from Hudson, Fla., told the Post. “When you have a family living there, it changes the way you relate to the street.”
While in Midtown, the two visited Rockefeller Center, and Trautwein stopped to take selfies next to the nearby reflecting pool and Sixth Avenue fountain.
“When I saw the photo, my eyelids were drooping,” Trautwein recalled. “I thought something was wrong, so I went home and told my neurologist about it.”
The doctor ordered an MRI scan, and she received a phone call on the way home from the scan. A benign mass was discovered in her brain and it turned out to be rapidly growing.
“I, meningioma” explained Trautwein, the most common form of brain cancer. “This diagnosis is difficult.”
Trautwein immediately began treatment at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. First, surgery was performed to remove the tumor. Subsequent follow-up revealed the presence of another primary brain tumor. glioma.
Doctors told Trautwein, who now works as a health room coordinator at Moffitt, that her condition would likely need to be monitored for the rest of her life because the tumor would continue to grow slowly.
In addition, doctors also discovered that she had a PTEN gene mutation, which increased her risk of developing other cancers.
Troutwein’s ordeal only recently came to light. recent reports on her local Fox station.
Since her craniotomy in 2017, Trautwein told the Post that she has been diagnosed with and treated for both breast and uterine cancer.
Trautwein said she was lucky to meet “some of the most genuine and inspiring people” she has ever known during her grueling treatment.
“Cancer wasn’t my first choice, but I wouldn’t trade where I am or what I went through for anything,” she said. She added that through her current job, she is “able to help people during the most difficult times in their lives.” So many people going through this don’t have a support system to get them through it, so it’s a blessing to be able to be a vessel for that. ”
The church service student said she plans to pursue a second degree in public health.
“I have a heart that cares about people and I try to help people in every way I can,” Trautwein said.
Since his first visit to New York, Trautwein lost a cousin to pancreatic cancer. She returned to this city only once – “to pay her respects to the memories she shared with him.”
