At 15, Nicholas Gavrielatos was much like any teenager. He was working toward his high school graduation, playing on his local hockey team and thinking about the future. Then, during an MRI after an injury, doctors discovered an abnormality on his scan鈥�a tumour in his left frontal lobe.听听
鈥淚t flips your world upside down,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have these aspirations. You're thinking 鈥榃hat kind of man do I want to become in this world? What kind of father? What kind of figure in the community?鈥� I was working towards those goals. Then they told me I would have to have brain surgery.鈥澨�听
Nicholas had an astrocytoma, a tumour that grows from star-shaped nerve cells called astrocytes. While removing the tumour saved Nicholas鈥� life, the surgery left him with speech and memory issues. He continued to be seen by his neurosurgeon, Dr. Kevin Petrecca, to monitor his recovery. Over time, the two became friends.听听
鈥淏oth of us are no-nonsense type 辫别辞辫濒别,鈥� said Nicholas. 鈥�He knows I'm not scared of anything. I just want to know the facts and he talks to me that way and I appreciate that. I 诲辞苍鈥檛 want him to sugarcoat anything, and he doesn't.鈥�听
Despite the cognitive challenges, Nicholas returned to hockey, graduated from high school and went to university, starting a master鈥檚 program at Concordia University鈥檚 John Molson School of Business. He learned how to live with his limitations and overcome them. Then, ten years after his surgery, he got more bad news鈥�another tumour had formed. Dr. Petrecca performed a second surgery, leaving Nicholas with more cognitive deficits.听听
鈥淭o be present in a conversation and attentive, it drains me mentally,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 also have a lot of issues with memory. Somebody could say, 鈥楬ey, what did you do yesterday?鈥� And for me 颈迟鈥檚 just black space.鈥�听
While many would have given up their goal of writing a master鈥檚 thesis, Nicholas saw it as a challenge to be overcome. For eight months he took it one sentence at a time, fighting through headaches, forming his thoughts into words on the page. In 2024, at the age of 28, he received his Master of Supply Chain Management degree.听听
鈥淚t was more proving to myself that I could still function,鈥� said Nicholas. 鈥�I'm not going to recede back in life. Whatever adversity I face, it doesn't matter, I'm moving forward and I'm going to conquer things. That was a milestone that I was really willing to put everything on the line to achieve.鈥�听
While he is now tumour free, an astrocytoma may reform again one day and he may need chemotherapy. Nicholas continues to be followed at The Neuro. He said he is thankful to all the nurses, secretaries, radiologists who helped him along the way, but especially Dr. Petrecca. As a way of giving back, he plans on organizing a fundraiser for The Neuro. He said he 颈蝉苍鈥檛 sure what he wants the money to go towards yet, but he wants brain tumour patients to have more support post-surgery.听听
鈥淚 just feel it in my heart that I have to do this,鈥� said Nicholas. 鈥淚 started a fundraiser when I was a teenager and raised a few thousand dollars, but I want to do something bigger this time, maybe to help provide therapists to patients, because surgery can be very traumatic and not everyone is strong enough to handle it on their own. Regardless if you are scared, feeling tired, feeling nervous, feeling the pressure, you simply need to fight, fight as hard as you possibly can鈥�听
Originally published in听.
