She Hit Her Head During a Volleyball Game as a Teen. It Led to a Diagnosis That Left Her ‘Completely Deaf’

NEED TO KNOW

• McKinnon Galloway, now 33, was was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 2 at 16 after a volleyball injury led to an MRI

• She lost her hearing in 2022 after years of surgeries and treatments for tumors caused by the disorder

• Galloway now advocates for others with NF2, as the disorder “takes away the kids’ childhood”

After hitting her head during a volleyball match as a teen, a woman was discovered to have a rare disorder that causes tumors to grow uncontrollably, and can cause total hearing loss.

“I went for a dive and hit my head on the ground. So I went in for a routine MRI,” McKinnon Galloway, now 33, told SWNS via the New York Post. It was during that scan that doctors told the teen from Charlotte, N.C., she would be “completely deaf” by the time she graduated high school, due to two tumors that were pressing down on nerves in her brain.

The tumors were caused by neurofibromatosis type 2, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves. Galloway was put on medication to help slow their growths, but eventually needed multiple brain surgeries to manage their progression.

Her medical crisis took a toll on her family, she shared: “My father started drinking. Every time I had a hearing test that went down or growth in my tumors or anything like that, he would relapse.”

When she was 25, her father died by suicide. She credits her mother, Tracy, who “stepped in and took both parent roles. She became the chair of the board of the Children’s Tumor Foundation out of New York City to help and secure as much funding, research, and everything else as she could. So she really saved my life in a lot of ways.”

Her struggle with her hearing took a bleak turn on New Year’s Day 2022, when she was on vacation with her family in Russia and felt like she woke up “completely deaf.” At first, she said, “I was like, ‘That’s nice. My mom has the TV on silent. That’s really nice of her.’ And then I sat up, and I was like, ‘I can’t hear you. I can’t hear anything.’ ”

Fortunately, doctors were able to prescribe medication that helped restore some of her hearing. But when a 10-hour brain surgery on March 18 did not go as planned, her hearing was permanently gone. After a period of what she described as isolation, Galloway learned to use assistive technology, and has parlayed her experience into a career as an advocate for others with NF2.

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“Diagnosed at 16, I was lucky enough to have my childhood,” she said. “NF takes away the kids’ childhood and they deserve to have one, not in hospitals.”

While “I just got my first stable scan in four years,” she says she’s worried about the future as she lives with 13 tumors — six in her spine, three on her hand, two in her neck, and two in her brain.

Still, Galloway says, “I’m honestly blessed to be on the other side so far — that can change quickly. For the worst luck, I have the best luck.”

Read the original article on People