Tennille Stanger T's Journey to Triumph

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated on our journey to remove the schwannoma tumor from my spinal cord.  The tumor is located around the C8 to T1 which is located at the base of my neck and the top of my back.  The tumor is causing severe pain in my neck and back.  It is also causing my right arm and hand to grow weaker and weaker.  We have been told by neurosurgeon's here in Arkansas that if we don't have the tumor removed  I will become paralyzed from the neck down.  With only one doctor in the State of Arkansas that can perform this complicated surgery we decided that we needed to look at all of our treatment options.  With that said, we will be heading to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN on Monday, February 12th.  We have our first appointments on Tuesday, February 13th where we will get registered at Mayo Clinic, receive a physical examination and will receive additional x-rays.  Then that afternoon we will meet with the neurosurgeon to see what they recommend in regards to surgery and treatments.  Our hope is that we can schedule the surgery for the end of next week or the following week so that we don't have to fly back to Arkansas and turn around three or four weeks later and fly back for the surgery.


We will post to our Journal as we proceed throughout this journey.  We will do our best to keep it updated in a timely manner.  We encourage our friends and family to share this journey with us.  Feel free to post to our journal, send us messages, and ask any questions that you may have.  We have so many family and friends who have already reached out to see how they can assist and to let us know that they are praying for us.  We appreciate your prayers, support and words of hope and encouragement during this difficult time for our family.


Thank you for visiting.