Linking brain cancer patients to tailored care; Brain Tumor Walk and Race hopes to raise awareness

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Less than 2% of cancers are brain tumors, but this disease affects many families, and the odds of getting brain cancer increases with age. Now, new technology is available to connect patients to the proper treatment.

Every brain tumor is unique

At age 13, Nathan Newman said debilitating symptoms started to take hold.

"I had severe headaches, really bad headaches, and over time, they became so bad that I couldn't open my eyes and get out of bed," he said.

Newman was diagnosed with ADHD and put on medications.

"Obviously, that didn't work, and I deteriorated," he said.

Eventually, doctors diagnosed Newman with two malignant germ cell tumors deep in his brain. Experts said his story is not uncommon since brain cancer is not something most pediatricians encounter.

"Their minds wouldn't necessarily jump to 'This patient is dealing with a brain tumor' because the pattern is not quite familiar to them," said Dr. Edjah Nduom with the National Brain Tumor Society.

He said many of the symptoms such as headaches and nausea mimic other conditions. Newman underwent treatment at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

"I was in the bone marrow transplant unit for 30 straight days, and they used intensive chemotherapy, which totally wiped out my entire immune system," Newman said.

After several months of chemo and radiation, he was declared cancer free in May 2019.

Since then, Nduom said researchers have learned every brain tumor is unique. Enrolling in the MyTumorID program will help patients identify their tumor's specific biomarkers.

The results can connect them to therapies and clinical trials.

"It's really important to go beyond what we used to consider standard pathology and really understand what type of tumor they're dealing with so that they can have appropriate treatment," Nduom said.

"I am so grateful and so blessed just to be here," Newman said.

Raising awareness and research funds is what Newman credits with saving his life.

He and Nduom are encouraging everyone to attend L.A.'s second annual Brain Tumor Walk and Race in Griffith Park Saturday, April 20.

"I truly do believe that with the investments that we're making into research for brain tumors that we're going to start seeing dramatic changes in survival so there's definitely a lot of hope in the future," Nduom said.