Cancer no match for UA student

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Summer Wildcat Photo Courtsey of Marissa Martelle Business junior Marissa Martelle holds Doctor Joel MacDonald's hand after her surgery to remove a brain tumor. Martelle has recovered from her May 29 surgery and plans to persue a career in medicine.

Marissa Martelle opened her journal the day after her surgery.

She saw the heart her sister had drawn, and written inside it in small letters was, 'you made it.'

The UA business junior was diagnosed with a large brain tumor in the frontal lobe of her brain last month.

"They said it was the size of an orange," Martelle said. "It had been growing for years and I had no idea."

Martelle said she started having severe migraines in February but it wasn't until May 14 that she was diagnosed with cancer.

"She had a fairly large tumor that was causing some problems with her vision, that's really what brought her to be evaluated," said Joel MacDonald, an assistant professor in surgery for the University Medical Center. "It's not an uncommon brain tumor necessarily, but it was a little unusual in terms of size for someone of her age," MacDonald said.

After her diagnosis, the doctors said they were 90 percent sure the tumor was benign.

"I was in total disbelief. It was like I was in a dream," Martelle said of the time leading up to the operation. "I was very scared," she added, "but when I left my family in the waiting room, they knew that I was coming back."

Martelle's boyfriend, Dennis Alfonso, said he was frightened as Missy went into surgery.

"But I was very positive because she was very positive," he said.

After 13-hours of surgery, the tumor was completely removed May 29 at University Medical Center.

"We call UMC the miracle house," Martelle said.

The surgery was complicated because of the size of the tumor and its position, but MacDonald said combined technologies helped eliminate the tumor.

Martelle said the surgery was a success, even though she was at risk of losing eye sight in her left eye.

"The fifth day after surgery, you could hardly tell that she had undergone a major operation," MacDonald said.

"The doctors told me, 'If you used to climb a mountain - go put on your hiking boots and climb a mountain,'" she said.

Martelle said she is healing fast. She has panic attacks every hour because of her medication, but said she tries to stay calm.

She said her next step is resuming her normal activities.

"We are back to doing things like playing video games and going shopping," Alfonso said.

Martelle said her experience has made her think about going to medical school.

"I discovered from this experience that I need to do something to give back to this world," she said.