Ruthie Dean

My name is Ruthie Dean, and I am proud to say that I am a brain cancer survivor. I am 17 years old, and I will be starting my senior year in high school this fall. On September 15, 2017, my life changed forever as I received news that I had a brain tumor. I was then rushed to the hospital in Greenville, SC to start the ball on treatment. My tumor was removed about a week later. After having the tumor removed, I then began to recover and to get back to school slowly. Not long after my surgery, we received the pathology report on my tumor. I then was told I had Glioblastoma Multiforme Grade 4, which is a very deadly form of brain cancer. It was the same type of cancer that killed John McCain. It is fatal in adults but treatable in children, so that gave us hope still. After this, I began very aggressive treatment. In that moment, I was scared of course. I had my entire life ahead of me, and it all changed on a dime. However, this was a great time for me to sit back and watch God fight for me, and that is exactly what He did. I was given 14 months to live, and that was over three years ago. I went through 23 round of chemotherapy, 33 radiation treatments, and two surgeries within a month apart, and I am still here. The doctors credited my faith in Christ for my success, because statistically, I was supposed to be dead. However, man’s statistics and God’s do not always match up. Right now, I have an MRI every six months, and so far, I am still tumor free. I will always have cancer, because it is incurable, remaining active at the cellular level. I could go on for days telling you how God has used my story in so many ways. He has taught me so much over the past 3 and half years, and for that, I am so grateful. In a way, I am thankful for cancer. It has taught me so much about myself, and others. If one person is impacted by what I went and am still going through, then that has made all of the difference.