Family's 'Superman', Father of 3 In Battle With Brain Cancer

HOMER GLEN, IL — Amanda McKenna didn't expect to celebrate her 9th wedding anniversary by welcoming her husband home from the hospital, but in the moment, it was "the best anniversary gift I could ask for."

Tom McKenna, 36, returned home Jan. 20 following surgery to remove a tumor in his brain, the severity of which was not clear at the time, said Amanda, 35. In a sudden turn of events stemming from a tingling sensation in his hand that eventually coursed the right side of his body, the Homer Glen family of five found themselves reeling amidst tests, doctors' appointments and imaging. Weeks later, they now know it's a grade 3 astrocytoma—brain cancer.

It's all just so hard to believe.

Manhattan native and Lincoln-Way Central High School graduate Tom McKenna is young and healthy, his wife said. The tingling first began in July, in his right hand, later traveling up his arm, right side of his face, and eventually his right leg. They were short bursts of the sensation once or twice a day, often lasting between 20 and 30 seconds, she said. He made the first available appointment with his doctor, scheduled for September. Initial bloodwork and assessments gave them no answers, no relief.

"Everything came back normal," Amanda McKenna said.

Doctors hypothesized it could be nerve-related, she said, possibly tied to residual nerve damage from his time as a football player at St. Xavier University. At the end of September, doctors recommended he undergo an MRI, with the first slot available in December. In the meantime, they took a family trip to Disney World in November, and Tom went three weeks without the sensation. On Dec. 20, he underwent an MRI.

The results came through in his MyChart, an online medical documentation system. As a former outside sales representative pursuing a new degree and career in sonography and ultrasound, she spotted the term, "astrocytoma," and knew she had to speak with his doctors as soon as possible.

"I need some doctor to look at it today, I can wait on hold as long as it takes," she remembers telling the doctor's staff. "I need someone to look this over, and give us information and more details about what this is."

The doctor diagnosed it as an astrocytoma and recommended Tom get in with a neurosurgeon as soon as possible. By the next day, they were meeting with Dr. James Chandler of Northwestern Medicine.

"I'm hearing, 'oncologist,' all this stuff," Amanda remembers. "It was just devastating."

An additional MRI was needed, Chandler said, to determine how accessing the tumor would impact Tom's speech, because the tumor was surrounded by the language and motor pathways of his brain.

"I don’t know how we got so lucky, walking out of that appointment, someone called us to schedule the MRI for the next morning," Amanda said. "It was jolting, especially right before Christmas, with the three kids. Christmas was tough."

Together since 2011 and married nine years, the pair have three children: Maddie (7), Caroline (4) and Tommy (1). The night before his surgery, they enjoyed a dinner date and had an important discussion.

"I don’t care what it costs," Amanda told him. "I don’t care if I have to take out credit cards—whatever it takes.

"We decided that day that our motto is ‘whatever it takes.’ He’s not giving up, I’m not giving up. Our family’s going to be stronger. We just hit a bump.”

Doctors operated Jan. 11, taking biopsies from different quadrants of the tumor, and ultimately aggressively "de-bulked" part of the tumor, they told her. Dependent on the biopsy results, chemo or radiation would follow. A lingering concern was any lasting impact on his speech, she said.

"If he can’t have his language, if he can’t communicate, what kind of quality of life is that?" Amanda wondered aloud.

Tom was home within a week of his surgery, but suffered two seizures which sent him back to the hospital. After an adjustment to his medications, he was back home, but issues remained with his speech due to swelling following the surgery.

"This is frustrating for Tom," Amanda wrote on a GoFundMe established for the family, "because you all know he is Superman and always wants to be the best. ... But we remind him this is normal—I mean he did just have brain surgery!"

Dad was home, and his kids were so happy, she said, despite his voice being "a little wanky," as Maddie said.

"He’s totally there cognitively, it’s just getting the speech out," Amanda said of the initial days home.

"We’re just taking it day-by-day. Explaining it to the kids was hard, but what mattered to them most was just seeing him, hugging him."

The community has showered the family with support—everything from monetary donations, to meal chains and more. The GoFundMe for the family has raised nearly $50,000 as of Feb. 2. The funds will help support the family through necessary chemotherapy and radiation treatments ahead.

"Worst-case scenario, I need to make sure I have something to provide for our children," Amanda said. "We’ve had such amazing support. ... What I tell people I’ve gotten to thank personally, I vow to use every penny of this for medical bills and Tom’s continued care."

Tom's employer American Beverage Marketers has assured him he will be compensated throughout his medical journey—a relief, Amanda said, because she is not currently employed as she pursues schooling for her career change.

Tom's treatment plan will include chemotherapy and radiation, with hopes of getting him into a clinical trial for proton beam therapy, Amanda said. He'll also require intensive speech and occupational therapy to get him back to his baseline, or as close to, before starting any treatments.

"We have a long road ahead," she said, "but I keep telling him that we will win and thrive—because there's no other option."

The support from those who know and love Tom has been so touching, Amanda said.

"We appreciate from the bottom of our hearts—prayers, donations, food—the amount of gratitude we feel … we just feel so lucky," she said. "Even throughout all this, the support ... Tom has been astounded.

"I just keep saying, 'Look at how many people love you.' We just are so grateful."