“It bothered me so much. I felt so much pressure on my brain,” Erin says. “I had walked into a few different classes and said, ‘please excuse me. I promise I’m not falling asleep in class, but I need to cover my eyes because my head hurts so bad.’” When medications didn’t help, her local doctor, J. Grant Hormell, MD, scheduled a CT scan. Something unusual appeared on both that scan and on the subsequent MRI. The next day, Erin and her mother, Michelle, were on their way to Geisinger’s Janet Weis Children’s Hospital to see a neurologist, and they knew they wouldn’t be coming home soon. “The night before, my husband and I went out to the garage and looked at the films (from the scans),” Michelle says. “I could see it. It was huge. When you looked at either side of the brain, it took up a quarter of the picture.” The golfball-sized tumor was very aggressive, and the cells were dividing quickly – meaning that the tumor was growing and would cause more problems unless it was removed. Erin was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and surgery was scheduled for the following week. But the next day, as Michelle watched Erin sleep, she was concerned with the way Erin was breathing. She alerted the nurses, and soon, Michelle says, a number of people were in Erin’s room, trying to wake her up: the tumor had hemorrhaged into itself. Her brain was being pushed to the bottom of her skull, which threatened her life. She would need emergency surgery to correct the problem. Erin’s friends and family – including her father, Bernie, and sisters, Cassie and Steph – traveled to Danville to be by her side as she went through brain surgery and the ensuing recovery. They celebrated every great achievement that would have seemed like a minor detail just weeks earlier: a stretch shortly after the surgery, pulling herself up on the bed instead of having the sheets pulled to move her. And they hoped for the best through every setback: Erin had trouble with her eyes and had uncontrolled movements in her arms and legs, an MRI showed that there was residual tumor that would need to be treated through daily radiation for six weeks. “The danger of residual tumor is that it can grow back,” says Michal Miller, MD, pediatric oncologist at Janet Weis Children’s Hospital. “The tumor location and the way it was pushing down caused Erin to have the involuntary movements and very poor balance. She couldn’t walk, and the injury to the brain made it difficult for her to comprehend what was going on. It was a very long and involved process.” “We had probably three serious talks about death,” Michelle says. “She would wake up in the night and say, ‘Mom, do I have cancer?’” Those were some of the most difficult times, she says. Throughout all of the ups and downs, Erin says one thing consistently brightened her days: visits from friends, teammates and staff of Juniata College. Women’s volleyball coach Larry Bock visited shortly before the team was headed to Minnesota for the national championship. Erin had just finished her radiation treatments, and Coach Bock told her that they had a ticket for her to be there to cheer them on. “I’m thinking, ‘is this do-able? How is this possible?’” Michelle says. Doctors gave Erin a list of goals she needed to accomplish if she wanted to travel to Minnesota – a 17-hour trip by car. Among the goals, she had to manage her pain better, Michelle needed to be able to care for her without hospital caregivers nearby, and Erin needed to be able to withstand noise and lights. Knowing that this could be the best way to lift Erin’s spirits and give her the strength to get through the rehabilitation ahead of her, both made sure the goals were met. “That weighed heavy on me,” Dr. Miller says. “It was stressful, but I knew the strength she would get from the trip and being with her teammates would help her immeasurably.” Throughout the year, the team had gained strength from Erin’s battle as much as she was able to gain strength from their support. Team members wore armbands with Erin’s number, and Coach Larry Bock – along with Erin’s dad – shaved his head when Erin started losing her hair. “Without a doubt, the team gained strength from Erin,” Bock says. “People talk about toughness with athletes, but this was miles beyond anything they would see on a court. They knew that if Erin was succeeding in Danville, then they could succeed anywhere.” Erin was weak and confined to a wheelchair in the Minnesota gymnasium, but she was fully able to cheer on her teammates – all the way to their first national championship. “That was the deal,” Erin says. “They kick butt in the championships, and I kick cancer butt.” With the strength of her family and winning teammates, she returned to home to face a long six months of chemotherapy. She fought the side effects of chemotherapy and the numerous hospital admissions just like an Olympic athlete determined to win gold, Dr. Miller says. Today, Erin continues her part of the deal. After lengthy therapy and rehabilitation, she now is in remission with no evidence of tumor and no symptoms of its return. She has returned to Juniata College and is hoping to one day get back on the volleyball court. “Six months ago, I would have been a little more pessimistic” about Erin’s return to volleyball, Dr. Miller says. “But through her determination and with the support of her family, coach and team, I’m sure she will get back on the court and kick butt.” | 
