Karen’s Way Forward: Life Without Keeping Score

Karen Brescia, 52, has golf in her DNA. Her dad, a golf course superintendent in Long Island, taught her everything about the game, and she later followed in his footsteps and became an assistant golf course superintendent herself.

So, when the opportunity arose to move to Vermont with her now husband Mark, a landscaper and snowmaker, it felt like a dream come true. They could golf in the summer and snowboard in the winter. “It’s the best of both worlds,” Karen said.

Vermont was home. It’s where they raised their son, Mark Joseph, and where the friends they met became more like family. Healthcare wasn’t something they thought of when they moved here in their 20s.

But sooner than they expected, Dartmouth Health became a central part of their lives in more ways than one. In 2017, Karen was diagnosed with a sphenoid wing meningioma, a type of brain tumor that grows along the base of the skull, adding pressure to nearby vessels and nerves.

It all started with a routine hair appointment.

An unusual discovery

“Kim is my hairdresser, who became my friend and then became my guardian angel,” Karen said. Every five to six weeks, Karen gets her hair cut with Kim.

One day, Kim noticed something off with Karen’s right eye. It was swollen and teary. Karen didn’t think much of it until about six weeks later, when the swelling continued, and Kim brought it up again.

Five or six weeks later, during her regular appointment, Kim raised concerns once more. “She, in her gut, knew that something was not right with me,” Karen said, finally agreeing to go to the doctor.

“If she was brave enough to speak up because she noticed something was not right, I should be brave enough to go to the doctor to have it looked at,” Karen said.

Karen’s eye doctor recommended an MRI, and as soon as the results revealed she had a brain tumor, Karen was “whisked away” to the neurology department at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

One month from her diagnosis, she underwent brain surgery with Nathan Simmons, MD, and plastic surgery with Joseph Shin, MD. As much of the tumor as possible was removed, and plastic surgery left no visible trace.

“You would have never known what I went through,” Karen said.

This all happened in a matter of weeks.

A full circle journey

Karen’s journey with Dartmouth Health didn’t start with her.

It started 23 years earlier, when her son, Mark Joseph, was delivered at 26 weeks. She and her husband spent 82 nights at Dartmouth Health Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at DHMC.

“The impossible became possible,” Karen said. The level of care they received gave her confidence in the Dartmouth Health system, and it’s then she realized how lucky they were to live in the area.

“My family and I are very fortunate to have Dartmouth Health in our lives,” she said. “It’s an underestimated value that we have in our backyard.”

In his elementary school years, Karen’s son, Mark Joseph, was diagnosed with epilepsy. More recently, her husband, Mark, was diagnosed with colon cancer during a routine screening at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC). He receives treatment at Dartmouth Cancer Center at DHMC.

“I often joke that I'm a professional patient and self-coordinator of my family's medical needs,” Karen said. She has been known to bring homemade chocolate chip cookies to her visits, which have become a favorite among the doctors, nurses, and staff.

“We look forward to visiting our care team members,” Karen said. “They're an extension of our family at this point.”

Charting a new course

Five years after her brain surgery, Karen received additional radiation treatment under the care of Matthew Vernon, MD, a radiation oncologist at the Dartmouth Cancer Center at SVMC.

“At my first consultation with Dr. Vernon, I felt like he already knew me,” she said. “I have really good feelings about the communication between all of my care providers,” she said, noting that the coordinated communication across the system makes it seamless.

She meets with Vernon biannually, and gets frequent MRI scans to monitor her progress. She also is under the care of Krzysztof A. Bujarski, MD, at DHMC, for seizures she developed after brain surgery.

Living with a meningioma has its challenges, and Karen has to take daily life at a slower pace. However, this hasn’t stopped her from finding moments of joy.

“You can modify and create a new manual on how you're going to live your life,” she said. Since her diagnosis, her memory is impacted, and she writes down everything that’s important to her.

She can still snowboard in the winter and golf in the summer, but at a new pace. Instead of a full day of snowboarding, she may do a few runs. Instead of playing a full round of golf, she’ll play three or four holes, then take a break.

It’s not about competition, she says. And she doesn’t keep score.

“I'm already winning,” Karen said. “I won when I brought my son home from the hospital. I won when I came through the other side of brain surgery. I won when I married my husband.”