Supporting a Spouse Battling Cancer
- Pro soccer player Eduard Lowen, 27, is supporting his wife, who was diagnosed with brain cancer earlier this year. He’s choosing to speak openly about a cancer diagnosis to offset perceptions of “weakness” when diagnosed.
- Spouses and partners of loved ones diagnosed with cancer often assume caregiver roles. Gynecologic oncologist Dr. Jayanthi Lea encourages caregivers to come to doctor visits and engage with their care by asking questions and helping their loved ones fulfill treatment recommendations.
- Sometimes, a cancer diagnosis can strengthen a relationship. Psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin recommends cancer patients surround themselves with people who care for and support them throughout treatment while also acknowledging their limits on what they can handle.
- Brain tumors can be cancerous or benign and don’t always cause symptoms. They can impact a person’s brain function and overall health, depending on the size, type, and location of the brain.
Common brain tumor-related symptoms may include difficulty walking, headaches, confusion, personality changes, vision changes, memory loss, and more.
St. Louis professional soccer player Eduard Lowen, 27, had been absent from several games over the last couple of months due to injury, but something else has dominated his focus.
“My wife has cancer,” Lowen said during a news conference.
Read More“This is also a request for my brothers and sister in Christ all over the world to pray for my wife.”
CITY SC midfielder Eduard Löwen talked about his wife’s brain cancer diagnosis today, and how supportive the club and everyone around him has been.#ALLForCity pic.twitter.com/C4jcCsgkXY — Corey Miller (@corey_miller5) May 16, 2024
Lowen explained he’s breaking his silence on his wife’s health battle now partly because he aims to break the stigma around openly discussing cancer.
“I know that I can talk very openly about it,” Lowen said.
“Where I come from [in Germany], it’s never as easy to talk about stuff like that, and as openly, because many times it gets seen as weakness,” Lowen continued, referring to the stigma surrounding a cancer diagnosis.
Lowen, a player for the St. Louis City Major League Soccer team, says his wife Ilona’s diagnosis felt abrupt and jarring for the family to cope with.
“It was kind of out of nowhere. My wife has had serious health issues. It got worse and worse, and then she ended up having surgery,” Lowen told KTVI News.
Although Ilona is doing better, Lowen says while home nursing his own hamstring injury, he’s been able to support his wife.
“The good thing was that I could take care of my wife when I was injured, but now that she is also doing well, it’s also good for me to think about something else, and I know my wife is also very happy about that and to see me playing again,” Lowen said.
The midfielder’s teammates and fans rallied around him and his wife as they continued along the unexpected cancer journey together.
“This is also a request honestly for my brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world to pray for my wife for health and courage,” Lowen said.
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Supporting Your Partner as a Caregiver
Cancer patients need a robust support system. Having a partner, friend, or family member to help care for and support you through a health struggle can be advantageous.
Research published in The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine studied the impact of a cancer diagnosis or disease on family members. It found, “Most chronic diseases have similar effects on family members including psychological and emotional functioning, disruption of leisure activities, effect on interpersonal relationships, and financial resources.”
Feelings of “helplessness, lack of control, guilt, anger, embarrassment” are some common emotions parents, siblings, and other relatives within the household of someone battling a health condition may experience, according to researchers.
WATCH: Managing life as a caregiver.
Although many partners assume a caregiving role when their loved one is diagnosed with cancer, anyone close to the patient can become a caregiver. It’s prudent that caregivers understand their loved one’s diagnosis and assist them when following cancer-care instructions.
Dr. Jayanthi Lea, a gynecologic oncologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet, “I encourage caregivers to come to visits with my patients because, in that way, the caregiver is also listening to the recommendations about what should be done between these visits, any changes in treatment plans, any toxicities [side effects] that we need to look out for, changes in dietary habits, exercise, etc.”
If you are a caregiver of a cancer patient, it is important to maintain your own mental and physical health as well.
“Caregiving is the most important job in the universe because you are there through the highs and lows,” Julie Bulger, manager of patient and family-centered care at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet.
“You are there to support your loved one, to manage all of the daily tasks as everything is changing in your life,” Bulger added.
Caregivers must also watch out for “caregiver burnout,” where stress, anger, fatigue, and illness emerge from putting another person’s needs ahead of their own.
Caregivers who find themselves struggling to care for a cancer patient should seek out a therapist or a support group of their own, either online or in person.
Understanding Brain Tumors
At this time, specific details regarding Ilona’s brain cancer remain unclear. However, generally speaking, brain tumors can be both cancerous and non-cancerous, and both can cause troublesome symptoms.
Brain tumors impact a person’s brain function and overall health, depending on their size, type, and location within the brain. Tumors that grow big enough and disrupt normal central nervous system functioning can press on nearby nerves, blood vessels, or other tissues. The disrupted central nervous system can present in various ways, making walking or maintaining balance difficult.
WATCH: Hope for Glioblastoma Research
However, brain tumors do not always cause symptoms.
Other signs of brain tumors can also include:
- Headaches
- Difficulty speaking or thinking
- Weakness
- Behavioral changes
- Vision changes
- Seizures
- Loss of hearing
- Confusion
- Memory loss
Treating Brain Tumors
Treatment options for brain cancer depend on a variety of factors, including the size and type of the tumor as well as the grade of the tumor.
Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy are options doctors use to treat brain tumors. Patients are encouraged to talk to their doctor about their situation and the best treatment options.
The prognosis for brain cancer, or how likely it is to be cured, depends on a few things:
- The type of brain tumor
- How fast the brain tumor is growing
- The tumor’s location
- If there are DNA changes in the cells of the brain tumor
- If the entire tumor can be removed with surgery
- Your overall health
Your doctor will be able to help you understand your specific and unique circumstances and how they relate to your prognosis.
Understanding One of the Most Aggressive Types of Cancerous Brain Tumors
Glioblastoma is considered a central nervous system (CNS) tumor, which means her brain tumor “grows and spreads very quickly,” according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The average survival rate is 15 months with treatment and less than six if left untreated, the NCI reports. While there is a five-year survival rate of averaging 6 percent, those individuals will never be cancer-free. They must continue receiving radiation and chemotherapy for the rest of their lives.
WATCH: Glioblastoma treatment options.
Glioblastomas are tricky to treat and manage because their cells are heterogeneous, meaning each must be individually targeted to slow tumor growth. Surgery cannot remove all the cancer because the tumor burrows into the brain, so the tumor starts to grow again immediately after surgery.
Glioblastoma risk factors can include:
- Prior radiation exposure
- Gender: men are more likely to get glioblastoma than women
- Age: people 50 years or older
- Certain genetic syndromes, including neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, von Hippel-Lindau disease
Symptoms for glioblastoma can vary depending on the area of the brain where the tumor begins and spreads and its growth rate, according to MD Anderson Cancer Center. Some common symptoms of glioblastoma can include:
- Headaches
- Seizures
- Changes in mental function, mood, or personality
- Changes in speech
- Sensory changes in hearing, smell, and sight
- Loss of balance
- Changes in your pulse and breathing rate
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