February 1, 1983 - I was given the gift of life
Feb. - April, 1983 - The gift of life was almost taken from me (I was one of those types that always 'died' shortly after birth)
Around 1987 - A tumor grew on the middle finger of my right hand
Around 1991 - I performed the first of countless unsucessful suicide attempts
Around 1994 - I first noticed NF2 (Nerofibromatosis Type 2)* tumors on my body
June, 1996 - An operation was planned for the removal of my right hand's middle finger
June 1996 - I also was told that my hearing was drastically low and that I needed hearing aids
July 17, 1996 - The amputation operation was a sucess
June 13, 1997 - My mother passed away...it left me with an unhealable emotional scar
May 1999 - Multiple tumors were found all over my body with the help of an MRI*
June 1999 - a tumor was removed from my leg to be studied...also, a huge tumor was found in my head (on my right ear's hearing nerve) and a smaller one was found in the other side (on my left ear's hearing nerve).
June 28, 1999 - I had a 19.5 hour operation to remove the tumor in my head
July 10-27 1999 - I spent time in a therapy hospital to relearn to walk
November 12, 1999 - I had an eight (8) hour operation that removed the second tumor in my head. This operation, along with the previous one, left me deaf.
September 21-28 2000 - I was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Children's Hospital for Rehabilitation in Cleveland, Ohio for testing.
*Nerofibromatosis Type 2(NF2)= a noncontageous disease where multiple tumors grow on certain nerves in a person's body
*Magnetic Resonanse Imaging (MRI)= a test that uses harmless magnetic fields to search the body for tumors/cancers