‘Super healthy’ dad diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ tumour after noticing symptom every time he sneezed
A dad who considered himself to be 'super healthy' was issued a devastating diagnosis after experiencing a strange symptom every time he sneezed.
Unfortunately, it seems that even the most fit and healthy of people aren't immune from developing life-threatening illnesses and conditions, and this was certainly the case for Steve Loutzenhiser.
The father-of-three, from St. Peters, Missouri in the US, is a high school teacher and baseball coach, and has always described himself as 'super healthy' and athletic.
But in the autumn of last year, Steve, 41, suddenly started struggling with excruciating back pain, with him telling TODAY: "I felt like I was getting stabbed in the back at night when I was trying to sleep... Incredibly sharp pain right between my shoulder blades in one specific spot."
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The dad also noticed that whenever he sneezed, he would experience an electric shock-like sensation, which would feel like 'an electrical burst' out of his elbows and knees.
This prompted Steve to go in for an MRI scan a few weeks later, which is where he was dealt the shocking blow of a tumour diagnosis.
After meeting with Dr. Camilo Molina, a Washington University neurosurgeon at the Siteman Cancer Center, to review his scans, Steve was diagnosed with an ependymoma, a 'locally aggressive' benign tumour on his spinal cord close to the base of his neck.
"They are entirely random," Dr. Molina told TODAY. "He’s young, healthy, athletic, conscientious. Never had a really major health problem in his life, thinking that [he's] doing everything right.
"And then all of a sudden, something like this really completely disrupts your life in a somewhat catastrophic fashion."
The Mayo Clinic explains that an ependymoma is 'a growth of cells that forms in the brain or spinal cord', and symptoms include:
- Back pain
- Balance issues
- Blurred vision
- Numbness in arms and legs
- Seizures
- Muscle weakness
- Headaches
As for the strange sneezing symptom Steve experienced, according to the National Institutes of Health, it was likely a phenomenon known as Lhermitte’s sign, which is an electric shock-like sensation that occurs on flexion of the neck.
Speaking of his diagnosis, Steve said: "Never in a million years did either one of us think that it could have been a tumor. It was a lot of very grim thoughts."
His wife Jackie added: "It was lots of tears, lots of, 'What does this mean?' I just kept thinking, I don’t know how we do this without him. This family does not work without him in it."
On 7 January of this year, Steve underwent surgery. Despite its high risks and being offered the option of having his tumour monitored instead, the dad simply explained: "I don’t think that I could have mentally been able to handle knowing that it was in there."
The procedure, which Dr. Molina described as 'almost like defusing a bomb in little, tiny pieces', was thankfully a success and Steve is on a slow road to recovery, with him having had to learn to walk again.
"It’s been like a decade worth of experiences in four months," Steve said, all while expressing how thankful he is for all the doctors, nurses, therapists and residents who treated him during the ordeal.
Emily Puckering