56 | www.Ups tatePhys i c i ansSC . com | www.Hea l thL i nksUps tate. com A Unique Case: MIND OVER MATTER TERRY MENG’S STORY By Denise K. James Once upon a time, Terry Meng assumed he would always be healthy. The Spartanburg County native played baseball and football throughout his younger years, served in the U.S. Air Force and had no major medical history on either side of his family. Sure, he suffered headaches every now and then, but, for the most part, Terry enjoyed being “fit, athletic and in good health.” In spring 2015, however, everything changed. It all started when Terry was working for a trucking company and getting a new warehouse underway when, the weekend before an important presentation, he came down with a “debilitating” migraine headache. After taking some migraine medication, Terry slept from Saturday into Sunday — then felt well enough on Sunday morning to assume he could continue prepping for Monday’s presentation. By noon, however, the migraine had returned, and Terry knew it was best to go to the emergency department. “There was a D.O. on call, and that doctor did not want to just treat me for the headache — he wanted me to get a CT scan,” Terry remembered. “I said no at first. I knew that if I did it, I wouldn't be able to do the work presentation.” When Terry’s fiancee, Jami, arrived at the hospital, the doctor told her the same thing: He wanted Terry to get scanned. Finally, the couple agreed to heed the advice, and, sure enough, the scan showed a spot to be concerned about, so Terry was asked to stay in the hospital overnight. An MRI on Monday confirmed the frightening news that Terry had a brain tumor. A few months later, the biopsy showed the tumor to be a malignant oligodendroglioma. The diagnosis shocked the couple. “When you hear something like that, your whole world feels crazy,” Terry said. “At the time, I was getting married and had a daughter on the way.” Then the report became progressively grimmer: Doctors in Spartanburg did not think the tumor was operable. Terry would have no choice but to try chemotherapy and hope for the best. That’s when Jami stepped in. A proponent of natural and holistic medicine, she decided to look into alternative treatments. “Jami immediately had spirit,” Terry commented. “She had motivation and was ready to fight.” Terry’s case was soon evaluated and accepted by the Duke University Hospital. Unlike the physicians in Spartanburg, the team at Duke said successful removal of the tumor was a distinct possibility, so Terry and Jami, buoyed by hope, packed their bags and headed for the Research Triangle. “They put me to sleep, cut the flesh and then woke me back up for the operation,” Terry shared. “The assistant would face me and ask me questions to see which part of my brain was functioning, so the surgeon — Dr. Allan H. Friedman — would know what to remove and what not to remove. It was wild.” Though a sliver of the tumor was left behind — removing it would have left Terry paralyzed — the surgery was ultimately deemed successful. In addition to Dr. Friedman, Terry and Jami feel indebted to one compassionate neuro-oncologist in particular: the late Dr. Dina Randazzo. A holistic practitioner whose interest in medicine began when her own father passed away from a brain tumor, Dr. Randazzo supported the Mengs on their journey and respected their goals not to use radiation and chemotherapy in the fight.
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