Ep 11 | February 11, 2026 | 28 mins

In this episode, Clifton Wolfe shares his journey as a brain tumor survivor, detailing his life before diagnosis, the symptoms he experienced, and the emotional impact of receiving the news. He discusses the challenges of surgery and recovery, the struggle of returning to work, and the effects on his relationships. Clifton reflects on how this experience has reshaped his perspective on life, emphasizing the importance of family and personal growth.

Clifton was diagnosed with an oligodendroglioma at age 30.
He had a full life before his diagnosis, working in his family's transportation business and owning a bowling alley.
Clifton experienced constant headaches for five years before seeking medical help.
Receiving the diagnosis was a pivotal moment for Clifton and his wife.
The surgery was successful, and Clifton was able to return to work after recovery.
He learned the importance of listening to his body and recognizing limits post-surgery.
Clifton's relationship with work has become a love-hate dynamic since his diagnosis.
The experience has deepened his appreciation for family and life.
Clifton acknowledges the emotional challenges he faced during recovery.
He remains optimistic about his future and ongoing health monitoring.

Resources
Check out a list of the most common medical terms relating to the brain tumor experience: rewired-minds.com/terms
Connect with brain tumor organizations here: https://www.rewired-minds.com/braintumorresources

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Connect with Clifton Wolfe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clifton.wolfe.3

Be a Guest
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Disclaimer
The stories shared here are personal accounts from the brain tumor community for informational and awareness purposes only and are not intended as medical advice. Always consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding your specific situation. Most importantly, take care of yourself as you listen and process.

Transcript
Bri (00:00)
The stories shared here are personal accounts from the brain tumor community for informational and awareness purposes only and are not intended as medical advice. Always consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding your specific situation.
Guests sometimes use medical terminology, so I've partnered with Northwestern Medicine Malnati Brain Tumor Institute to provide definitions of common terms. The full list is in the show notes. Most importantly, take care of yourself as you listen and process.

Bri (00:40)
I’m Bri Salsman, a brain tumor survivor and identity integration coach. And you're listening to Rewired Minds, a podcast where we share brain tumor stories that change us. I'm excited for the next two episodes because this is another series where you'll hear about a brain tumor experience from two different perspectives. Today's guest is Clifton. And in April of 2025 at the age of 30, he was diagnosed with quite a mouthful that I hope I get right, but it's an oligodendroglioma which is a type of astrocytoma. He's had one surgery and no other treatment at this point in his journey. Thank you so much for joining me. I'd love to rewind and hear a little bit about your life before getting this news. You were 30 years old at the time, so you've had 30 years, I'm sure, a full life up until that point. So paint that picture for us.

Clifton (01:31)
From the moment I was born, basically, I was kind of brought into the transportation business. My family owns a transportation company in Pennsylvania. And when I was probably about 12, I started working here as basically like a summer job in between school years, just washing buses and vans and everything that we had and waxing and all that stuff, detailing basically.

Then through high school, I played a couple of sports. I played basketball and stuff like that. Typical, typical high school kid really didn't do anything special. Decided in my sophomore year of high school that I didn't think I wanted to go to college. And then by my senior year, I knew I didn't want to go to college. I picked up bowling in sophomore year of high school. And then, I kind of dove into that.

I joined the professional bowlers association and I was bowling on like the regional tour full time, basically full time. Like every weekend I was somewhere else bowling a tournament and then working during the week at my local bowling alley. And then I did that for probably about three years. And then I came back to the bus lot and for the transportation company and started being a mechanic and this that's where I've been for close to roughly 10 years now.

Three years ago, we actually purchased that local bowling alley that I was working at because I still bowl. I still like the ball. I don't travel as much anymore. I don't really do that many tournaments anymore, and I'm not part of the PBA like I was. I kind of eliminated all that. But I still love to bowl. The whole family bowls, so we actually purchased the local bowling alley. So we're there like every day doing stuff on top of working full-time at the bus lot.

Bri (03:19)
Wow! I imagine, you're on 24/7. Everything kind of blurred into everything else. It wasn't like I go to work and when I'm at work, home stays home and vice versa. It really feels kind of everything blends together. How would you describe it?

Clifton (03:35)
Yeah. So my normal day would be, I would get up around 4:30, five o'clock and I would go to work for the, the bus company and I would work till about 12, take an hour lunch. And then I would work again till five or six o'clock at night. So my normal day was I'm working 11 to 12 hours Monday through Friday. And then the past three years, on top of that, going to the bowling alley at night to put in another three to four hours in the pro shop, because I run the pro shop drilling the balls for people. So my normal day was, was anywhere from like 15 to 17 hours of work every day.

Bri (04:12)
Those are long days, for sure. For sure. It sounds like you got a lot of enjoyment out of it though.

Clifton (04:17)
Oh yeah, every, just about every aspect of, or really both jobs. I love, I mean, I've always loved doing stuff and fixing stuff and just doing everything with my hands and, and then everything with the bowling alley, just cause I love bowling so much. Just so every aspect of it, I love so much.

Bri (04:33)
So leading up to April, what led you up to finding out about your diagnosis?

Clifton (04:38)
So for the past probably about five years, five or six years, I've had just a constant headache. And over that long period of time, I've kind of been able to figure out how to like work around it and kind of get used to it. And then just leading up till April, it just, those headaches were turning into migraines. So I was getting, I was having a migraine pretty much constantly and with little to no relief with no matter what kind of medication I would take.

And I saw the doctor a couple of times in those five or six years about them. And every time he would stick me on a medicine, it would work for like three days and then it would just stop working. So then I would kind of just deal with it and suck it up and just kind of work through it.

As much as I could. And then I would go back like a year later and tell them, ‘Hey, my, headaches are still like, they're still here. They're still bad.’ He would put me on a different medicine in a stronger one and it would work for a couple of days and then it wouldn't.

Then I actually initially went to the doctor because my wife wanted me to go because I had a rash on my stomach and it looked like Lyme disease. So I wanted to go rule that out. So I went and he looked at it, took the blood work and it wasn't Lyme disease. But then he said, well, while you're here, is there anything else you want to discuss? And I said, yeah, actually my head still hurts all the time. And he said, okay, this has been going on for years now. Let's go ahead and get a CT.

In my mind, I'm like, this probably should have been done a while ago, but I guess better late than never. So we got, we got the CT and then two hours later, he said, ‘yeah, it showed a mass about the size of a swelled up strawberry.’

So I was, I was like, okay, what do, what do I do now?

And he said, ‘we're going to, we're going to schedule an MRI for as soon as possible and see what it, what it shows.’

So I got an MRI the very next day. And then like two or three hours after the MRI, ‘he called and said the MRI showed exactly what the CT showed, but a little bigger than what the CT showed. So it's actually a little bigger than we thought.’ And then gave me a number to a surgeon.

Bri (06:43)
That’s a lot. I mean, for a headache to be constant for five years, that's a really long time, especially, you know, you're running both of these businesses. Your days are, you know, 11, 12, 13 hour days, very, very long days. How are you managing day to day with this? I mean, five years is so long.

Clifton (07:03)
In those five years, I would basically do as much as I could. And then if, if I had to like sit down, take a break, I would do it, but I've always, I've never been one to like, like taking breaks and like while other people are working, me not working, I've never, I've never been like that. I've always been, ‘Hey, people are out there working. I have to be out there too.’

So I've always just basically pushed through it, sucked it up and pushed through it. And it was extremely painful and excruciating at times. But I would always push myself till I physically just couldn't anymore.

Bri (07:37)
Yeah, and what happens when you hit that wall?

Clifton (07:40)
When I hit that wall, it was almost like a light switch drop of a dime. I was just, I was done. If I didn't sit down, I would probably almost fall down. And I just, I had to lay down in a dark room with no sound, no light, and with sometimes a heating pad or cooling like ice pack on my head. Sometimes I would alternate, until it it subsided enough to where I can continue on my day.

Bri (08:08)
Mm-hmm, but it never truly went away. It doesn't sound like.

Clifton (08:11)
No, it never went away fully, but it always seemed to go away enough to where I could continue with my day, but it never went away fully.

Bri (08:14)
Yeah, wow, wow, wow. And so you finally get the scan. Who's with you when you get the news?

Clifton (08:28)
My wife. So I was actually, we walked in the house after the scan. We talked about things and then we had lunch and then I was actually on my way back to work when the doctor called.

Bri (08:38)
What did the doctor tell you specifically?

Clifton (08:41)
So the doctors, like exact words were ‘there, the CT showed there is a mass in your right frontal lobe.’ And that's basically all he said. It was just, because that's all the information we had at the time after just the first CT.

Bri (08:49)
Right.

Clifton (08:49)
So of course the mind automatically goes racing to like, what is it? Is it cancerous? How big and all this stuff.

And then as soon as he called and told me, I just walked back in the house and told her. And of course she, she started crying and everything, which, which made me shed a couple of tears and whatnot.

Bri (09:15)
You know, getting this news when you're by yourself is different than getting the news and having someone to share it with to lean on, but then also she needs support as well. So I don't know, I just imagine this image of you leaning on each other and there's a reciprocal experience of leaning on one another, but also supporting one another at the same time.

Clifton (09:37)
When I got the call, I was alone in the shop. So like when I first initially got the news, I was I was 100% alone. And then when I walked back in the house and told her, I saw her facial reactions, so I was like, ‘OK, now I have to be strong at least in this moment for my wife.’

We, hugged and told her, but it's not a big deal. I'm a fighter. I've always has always has been. We will get through this. We'll get this thing taken care of and we'll be back to normal in no time.

Bri (10:09)
Where did you find the strength to portray that level of confidence about it, especially at a time where you don't even really know what you're dealing with. You just know there's a mass.

Clifton (10:20)
I don't know. I just, it's just always how I've been throughout my life. It's just no matter what, you just, you fight through, you push through it and you just get through it.

Bri (10:32)
Yeah. I can see that in your work ethic, too, as you described, having long days, then buying a second business and extending your work days. You just keep going. You just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I'm starting to see a theme here across your life.

After this phone call, what comes next?

Clifton (10:49)
The very next day I got the MRI. And then after that, when it basically confirmed what the CT showed, he gave me the number to a surgeon that he recommended. Called that number and office picked up and said, ‘well, he actually retired.’

Bri (11:05)
Oh, wow.

Clifton (11:05)
So I'm like, okay, now what do I do? Cause this is who the doctor recommended. I don't know any neurosurgeons. And they said, well, we have, we have a great surgical team and everything. And it was Penn Medicine. So I just basically trusted the receptionists, suggestion and I ended up with the head of neurosurgical oncology of all of Penn Medicine. He was, he was my surgeon and like my care team leader and I can, I can definitely see why he's the head of the department.

Bri (11:43)
Hmm. What did you see?

Clifton (11:44)
Well, just like the responsibilities that he had and everybody coming to him, like our visits that me and my wife had with him to discuss things and and to plan and to to look at everything. Just everybody coming to him like we're looking at my scan and another doctor comes in to show him the scan of their patient and asking his advice. Like, okay, so this is this is somebody who people go to when they are confused. So that was a little comforting.

Bri (12:12)
I know from my own experience too having confidence in your team is such a critical aspect of this process and this journey. I mean, you are literally placing your life in the hands of someone else and really giving up complete control.

And so you do end up having surgery. What do you recall about that?

Clifton (12:34)
So the only thing I really remember before the surgery was the surgeon initially told me looking at the scans that there was no way he was going to be able to get it all, but he was confident he was going to be able to get at least 90%. And I think that was mainly just because the way we, me and my wife kind of joked around and call them tentacles, but like the way the tumor was growing and how it was like branching out, they just, they look like octopus tentacles.

Bri (13:04)
Mm-hmm.

Clifton (13:04)
But that's what I assumed. Like he was talking about that he was not going to be able to get 100% just because of the way it was growing. And I said, well, if he's, if he's confident, he's going to be able to get 90%, then the other doctors who have been, who have been coming to him all day for advice, they're probably going to be confident to get 75%. So I'm, I'm going to take the 90 over the 75.

Bri (13:28)
And how successful was the surgery? What was the end result?

Clifton (13:31)
It was very, very successful. Cause when I woke up and the surgeon came in, he said that he got more aggressive with it than what he initially wanted to, but he got it all.

Bri (13:43)
Wow.

Clifton (13:43)
So at first I was kind of confused because I was thinking, well, you told me before the surgery that there's no way you're going to be able to get it all, but now you got it all. I know once you get in there, it's obviously different than what you're seeing on a scan. But yeah, he said he had to get more aggressive with it, but he was able to get it all.

Bri (14:00)
Wow, that's wonderful. Do you recall him telling you that? Is a memory you have?

Clifton (14:05)
Yeah, I actually remember the conversation. Well, he didn't tell me personally. He, he was on the phone with my wife the day after surgery and I thought it was bad news because she's outside my room on the phone. And the nurse came in and said, she's on the phone with your surgeon. I was like, oh, okay. And then she started crying, like bawling, crying. I'm like, oh, great. What? What don't I know? But it was turned out to be happy tears.

Bri (14:33)
What was the dominant emotion that showed up for you in that moment when you got that news?

Clifton (14:38)
So for probably the first couple weeks up to a month after my surgery, I was 100% a robot. Showed no emotion, like about anything at all. And they never, I don't know if he forgot or if he just didn't want to alarm us with that, but no one said that that was like a possibility of happening. So like even with great news, like the look on my face is just very straight and stern. And I'm like, okay, that's good.

Bri (15:12)
And is that the location of the tumor? Is it the medication or just any idea what that shift originated from?

Clifton (15:20)
The only thing I can think of is a combination of where the tumor was and the medication and just being still like kind of out of it, at least for the first couple of days of still being out of it. After I got home, I guess it's from the medication. I'm not exactly sure, but it did take about a month for that to finally kind of subside.

Bri (15:41)
And of course, as you shared before, prior to your diagnosis, working was such a big part of your life. What did returning to work look like for you?

Clifton (15:51)
I tried to return to work way, way too early. I tried, it was probably two weeks after my surgery. I got, I still get yelled at for it, but I, I was up at the office since it's like 20 feet up a hill from my house. And I went up there to unlock the office because I knew we had like summer runs going out that day and stuff. And I just basically just went up there, unlocked the office and was answering phone calls if any came in. And I get yelled at because one, I shouldn't have been like out of the house two weeks post surgery Two, I never told anybody that's what I was doing, so my wife woke up and I'm nowhere to be found.

Bri (16:34)
Mmm.

Clifton (16:37)
So she was a, she was definitely terrified in that moment and looking back on it, I mean, I apologized a lot, at least I believe I did afterwards. But I told her, I said, look, it's been two weeks. I can answer phones. Like I can, I can do that. I can help out a little bit.

Bri (16:50)
I relate to this so much. I didn't realize it at the time, but in hindsight went back to work too early. But the thing is, I've learned in my experience that I don't know how I'm going to respond if I don't try. And so that's been a big driver for me of finding that balance between giving it a try because I need to know where my new boundaries are, but also not pushing myself too hard that I overdo it. And definitely in the beginning, there were several instances where I overdid it and going back to work was was one of those areas. I'm very work focused too. And so I had a strong desire to feel productive again.

Clifton (17:31)
It was the exact same with me. After everyone yelling at me, I kind of took a step back and didn't, didn't even try to go back to work until it was late August. I started with working half days for about a week or two before trying to like work a normal full day and when that finally happened, I definitely pushed it too far. Basically, I went back to like pre-surgery. I would do things until I couldn't anymore, except this time because it's post-surgery, when I hit that wall, it was just so much worse because I still had and still have brain swelling and brain is moving back to where it's supposed to be and it definitely just, took a lot more out of me a lot quicker. And if I tried to just push through it it really just wasn't good. I mean, I fell, I fell over a good handful of times working on something, just falling over or getting up too fast from lying on the ground from underneath a vehicle, just get up too fast and immediately just fall back down.

Bri (18:36)
Hmm. And is that balance or is it dizziness or something else?

Clifton (18:40)
The dizziness. Definitely the dizziness.

Bri (18:42)
And how, are your headaches that you had prior to your diagnosis?

Clifton (18:48)
If I start to get a headache, I've learned from the past couple of months of pushing it too far too soon and everything. I need to actually stop and relax a little bit. Go like lie down for 20, 30 minutes or something. And I've been a lot better about doing that here recently. It still took me way too long to like figure out that that's what I need to do. But when they come on, like when the headaches come on, they, they still hurt. I mean, headaches are never fun to begin with, but when you're talking about, you still have some brain swelling going on that just makes it that much worse. And so they still hurt. And sometimes they're still like really, really bad, but compared to pre-surgery they're not even close to the same level.

Bri (19:30)
What have you learned about yourself through all of this?

Clifton (19:33)
I learned that I'm definitely stubborn when it comes to work. When it comes to some things, I'm just like, well, okay, I'm not gonna try that just yet, but when it comes to work, I'm definitely more stubborn with it and telling myself and everybody, okay, yes, I have to go do that.

Bri (19:50)
Work is a big part of your identity, it sounds.

Clifton (19:52)
Yes, yes very much so.

Bri (19:54)
Yeah. How has your relationship with your work changed?

Clifton (19:57)
It's become more of a love hate relationship.

Bri (20:00)
Oh really? How so?

Clifton (20:02)
I still love it. I still love it. But at the same time, with like some things that I have to do, I hate it because like super heavy lifting still affects me. And being a mechanic on buses, that's a lot of it or majority of it is heavy lifting. So I still love to do it and I still want to do it, but like I'll do something in my head would be like, Nope, you're not doing this today.

Bri (20:23)
Yeah, yeah. And of course, as I mentioned at the top of the episode, next week, we're going to get to hear from your wife and her perspective and her experience through all of this. So I'm kind of curious how your all’s relationship has been impacted by all of this.

Clifton (20:39)
Definitely been trying. Mainly just because like this past summer, I was just not, not who I normally was and am. So it was definitely trying, but she knew very well that it was all temporary and it was just because of the surgery and everything.

And when I say trying, I was very irritable, like after surgery, very irritable, very easily, like just angered and annoyed. if it didn't slightly irritate me or annoy me, it would downright piss me off. And it would be the simplest of things.

Bri (21:11)
And to what degree were you able to recognize that anger in the moment, or is this more of a hindsight experience?

Clifton (21:19)
More of a hindsight because, in that moment, because I'm still in fresh recovery from brain surgery, I didn't really see the fault in it in that precise moment. But looking back, even a month later, looking back, I'm like, wow, that's not me. That was a little too far.

Bri (21:39)
I'm curious, Clifton, what matters to you now that maybe didn't matter to you as much before diagnosis?

Clifton (21:47)
Mainly, it's like, I know a lot of people will say like, don't sweat the small things. And 90% of the time, I will agree. And I believe that's true. But at the same time, like after all this, like I considered those headaches, the small things because everybody gets headaches every now and again. Like it's no big deal. You just take like a Tylenol or something and it goes away. So like, at the time, I'm like, uh, headaches are, are a small thing. Don't sweat the small things, but like in just, this particular case, those small things were a symptom of a very large thing.

Bri (22:24)
When you find the thing that you think is working to get you through the day, sometimes you don't realize that it's working enough, but sometimes enough isn't even enough.

Clifton (22:36)
No, exactly. You look at it and you're like, OK, I got through another day with like a with a headache or with a couple of headaches throughout the day. And that's all you're focusing on. You're not focusing on, OK, well, it's been it's been multiple days in a row now. Maybe I should look into why I'm getting these headaches.

Bri (22:54)
Right, right. Something I learned through my recovery after my initial diagnosis before my recurrence is it doesn't have to be bad to get better. Prior to diagnosis nothing was quote unquote bad. You can always find someone whose situation is more challenging than yours, right? And so I need to be grateful for what I have and a headache's not that big of a deal. I've managed it.

And afterwards, I'm like, I doesn't have to be bad to get better. The bottom line is I wasn't doing well. I was suffering. And even though I didn't qualify it as bad, it doesn't mean that there's not something more going on and that it can't be improved.

There's so many parallels between our experiences, Clifton. This is really interesting.

How do you think about your future?

Clifton (23:41)
I mean I feel like my future is going to be bright.

Bri (23:46)
Hahaha

Clifton (23:46)
I mean I got the bus company in the bowling alley, so it's definitely going to be a busy future, but at the end of it, it's going to be worth it, I think.

Bri (23:52)
And you mentioned that they got 100% with surgery. Are you in ongoing monitoring? What does that look like?

Clifton (24:02)
Yeah, every 3-4 months I get an updated MRI just to make sure that the brain swelling is still going down, which it is, and to make sure that there is no regrowth anywhere, which there isn't as of now.

Bri (24:15)
Wonderful, wonderful. That's gotta be like the best news of all of it, I would imagine.

Clifton (24:21)
Yeah, every time I get a new MRI and it shows that like everything is like what it's supposed to be doing and there is no regrowth. It definitely takes a load off.

Bri (24:33)
What is it like leading up to those scans? You know, knowing that could go either way.

Clifton (24:37)
Definitely nerve wracking. Especially if I have any sort of like symptoms of what I was experiencing before the surgery. I had a scan in October and leading up to that scan I was I was having headaches and like pretty frequent headaches. So going into the scan I was like, oh great. I'm not looking forward to seeing the results of this.

But when they said that everything came back good and the headaches were just the brain swelling going down. So the brain is still like moving and still getting in its final like place. And that's the cause of the headaches. It was definitely a huge relief and huge like eye opener, like, OK, like we're we're good.

Bri (25:17)
The headaches are still there, but they're for a different reason now.

Clifton (25:20)
Exactly. Exactly. They're for a good reason now, not because there's something foreign in my head.

Bri (25:27)
Yeah, yeah. And I imagine they expect as the swelling goes down, the headaches will diminish as well. Is that accurate?.

Clifton (25:35)
Yes. Yep, that's what they said anyway.

Bri (25:37)
That's awesome. That's wonderful. Well, I would love to keep in touch and continue to hear updates along your journey and wish you to have continued good news after every scan. How has all of this rewired your mind?

Clifton (25:52)
So it really just makes you, I guess, take a, take a step back and like think and, and dwell on it a little bit about really just about how important the small things are. And I guess how important life is in general. The scariest words that I've heard in my life to this point was a couple of days before surgery at one of the meetings with this, with my actual surgeon, he goes, look, I'm confident, but at the same time it's brain surgery. And there's always that chance that you don't wake up on the table. Like hearing that it's just, it's very scary. And it really makes you, makes you realize how important everything really is.

Bri (26:32)
What's most important to you today?

Clifton (26:34)
Most important to me is, and it's always been most important to me, would be my family and especially my daughter.

Bri (26:41)
What do you wish for them?

Clifton (26:42)
I wish that I can be the husband and father that they deserve, because they deserve the absolute world and that I can just continue to recover and be the best me I can be.

Bri (26:55)
I love that so much. I can't wait for them to hear this and to hear that message from you.

Well, Clifton, if if anyone out there is listening and resonated with your story and would like to connect, where can they find you?

Clifton (27:09)
That is 100% okay with me. Even if... This helps one person, it was totally worth it.

I am on, I am on Facebook. It's Clifton Wolfe. That's the only social media that I'm on.

Bri (27:20)
I will definitely include a link to your Facebook page in the show notes so people can easily find you if they want.

Thank you so much Clifton for being so generous with sharing your story and I'm excited to connect with your wife and share her story next week.

Clifton (27:37)
Yeah, absolutely. And thank you very much.

Bri (27:45)
Thank you for being part of the Rewired Minds community. Full show notes, resources, and a transcript for today's conversation can be found at rewired-minds.com/podcast. If you or someone you know has a brain tumor story to share, I'd love to hear from you. Visit rewired-minds.com/guest to learn more about collaborating on a future episode.

This podcast is a one woman labor of love. It's a true honor to bring it to your ears and facilitate connection among the brain tumor community.

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