Megan Schultz, an 8

th
grade teacher from Columbus, experienced a seizure in her hand when
she was 25 weeks pregnant that caused her to pass out while cooking dinner. She was taken to
the hospital where she got an MRI scan. The doctors believed she had a low grade glioma and
planned to keep an eye on it. After doing a significant amount of research, she decided to
come to Cleveland Clinic for a second opinion. Since she was pregnant, they were unfortunately
unable to do a contrast MRI. There is some research that indicates pregnancy can complicate a
brain tumor by increasing the size or by causing it to grow more rapidly- however further
testing had to wait until after her son was born.

After having her son in December of 2011, Megan was able to get her first contrast MRI in
January of 2012 that had shocking results for the 27-year-old new mom. She did not have a low
grade glioma, but rather a grade 3 astrocytoma, a rare type of tumor that is seen in only 3000
to 3500 cases per year in the United States. Brain tumors are the fifth-leading cause of cancer-
related death in females age 20-39 so her course of treatment began quickly thereafter. She
had her first resection surgery in February of 2012 and continued watching the tumor closely.
Unfortunately, in August of 2013 the doctors noticed a slight growth and decided to act quickly.
She had the NeuroBlate procedure done on August 27, 2013 and continued with routine
chemotherapy through June of 2014.

Currently, Megan is doing well, however due to the strong likelihood of the tumor growing
back, she has MRI scans every 2 months to keep a close eye on it. From the support of her
school and other donations, there has been enough money raised to support a clinical trial,
which will occur soon.