In 2021, former San Francisco Chronicle writer Tom Stienstra developed a persistent cough after a few days of hiking, biking, and mountain climbing with his wife. Within a few weeks, doctors found tumors in his lungs, brain, and throughout the rest of his body.
Dr. Steven Chang, and a team of 15 Stanford specialists completed four craniotomies over a period of six months. The team removed tumors in Tom’s brain, set up a blood drain in his head, remove additional fluids, and perform CyberKnife stereotactic radiosurgery procedures to six tumors, targeting radiation at any cancer cells they could find.
“You almost died twice on the operating table,” Dr. Chang told Tom afterward.
Read more about Tom’s story in the SF Chronicle:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2023/tom-stienstra-cancer-survival/