My Story: Karen Paz, brain cancer

When Karen Paz noticed strange symptoms, she contacted her doctor and was diagnosed with stage 2 brain cancer. Watch as Karen, currently in treatment, shares how family support and a positive outlook help her combat her cancer diagnosis.

Transcript

00:00

When the doctors came in to tell me my diagnosis, they told me that my tumor was slow-growing and that it had

00:06

genetic markers that indicated that it should respond well to treatment. [AUDIO LOGO]

00:13

The way I ended up finding out that something was not right, I had had some unusual things happen while I was sleeping.

00:22

I had bit my tongue on two occasions so badly that it was bleeding and just had some other weird symptoms. And I called my primary care doctor and says,

00:31

some strange things have been happening. And he suggested having an MRI and an EEG, which is what I did.

00:37

And that's when I was diagnosed with stage 2 brain cancer. Immediately after being diagnosed,

00:44

everybody wanted to be part of this, to be there and let me know how much they cared. And my son came up with something cute. My initials are K-B-P. And he says,

00:54

you know what, Mom, that stands for Keep Being Positive. And my last name being Paz, P-A-Z,

01:01

we did a little play on Paz. And my brother made these bracelets that say, "BE PAZITIVE." And yes, there are moments where it's

01:09

a little bit scary and unknown, but I try to stay positive. I start every day thinking of all the people who care,

01:15

who check up on me, who want to be part of my life and I want to be part of theirs. And so I wake up with positive attitude.

01:22

And I want to continue to do as much as I can and enjoy every day that I have here.