August 5, 2026 | 27 mins

Joyce McCann, diagnosed with a meningioma at 51, spent 20 years managing mysterious headaches before an MRI in December 2017 finally revealed the tumor wrapped around her optic nerve and artery. She shares the whirlwind from diagnosis to a 10 hour surgery, the loss of her partner a year later, and the seizures now bringing her back into a season of uncertainty. Through it all, Joyce holds onto faith, family, and a determination to keep living for her children, no matter what the next scan shows.

Tumor Type: Meningioma
Symptoms: headaches, seizures, deja vu
Treatment: surgery
Survivor
Current Stage: Wait and Watch
Recurrence

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

Connect with Rewired Minds
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Connect with Joyce McCann
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joyce.mccann.10
Email: jomccann66@gmail.com

Be a Guest
Interested in being a guest on a future episode? Visit rewired-minds.com/guest for more information and to submit your request.

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 (00:06)
I'm Bri Salsman, a brain tumor survivor and identity integration coach, and you're listening to Rewired Minds, a podcast that shares brain tumor stories that change us. Sometimes guests use medical terminology, so I've partnered with Northwestern Medicine Malnati Brain Tumor Institute to provide definitions of common terms. You can find the full list in the show notes. Most importantly, take care of yourself as you listen and process.

Bri (00:29)
Today's guest is Joyce McCann, who is a meningioma survivor. She was diagnosed in January of 2018 and has recently experienced several seizures that's prompting more testing. Welcome, Joyce. Thank you so much for being here today.

Joyce McCann (00:43)
Thank you, Bri, for having me.

Bri (00:44)
I'm so glad that you are willing to share your story, especially being in the middle of things right now. I think that takes a lot of courage and vulnerability. And I just have to say right off the bat how grateful I am for that. And I know we'll get into a little bit later in the conversation, what you're experiencing now. But before I get too far ahead of us, I'd love to have our starting place be even before all of this came up for you? What did life look like for you before you got this news?

Joyce McCann (01:16)
Life was normal as much as possible. In my late teens, early twenties, I started developing headaches, which prompted me to get tested by a neurologist. And she prescribed a medication and told me that eventually this kind of headache, which was named the ice pick headaches would develop into migraines.

So I said, okay, I took that medication. It was a type of medication that you took a certain amount and every day you decreased it to when you don't take anymore. And it went away for a little bit. And then in my early twenties, it started happening again. So I just let it be. It's like, okay, I'm having headaches. Maybe it's normal, left it at that. Went on with my life, got married. I had two beautiful kids who are now adults and then in 2016 again I was not feeling the greatest I went for some more tests they suspected maybe sleep apnea so I went for a test and I now have to sleep with a machine. They were saying that headaches and that could develop into worse symptoms so I sleep with that and that would still not relieve my headaches.

Bri (02:35)
So they thought this was connected to your headaches then.

Joyce McCann (02:38)
That’s right. Yeah.
Bri (02:39)
Interesting.

Joyce McCann (02:54)
And it didn't. So that was in 2016. And then in the summer of 2017, that's when it really started. Like I was starting to have deja vu's daily, two, three a day. And that's when I got scared. said, okay, this is not normal. And I, I shouldn't have, but I did a little bit of Googling. Some of the symptoms were, it could be a tumor, could be all kinds of things. I don't remember everything else, but so I said, okay, I'm going to go see my doctor. And with that, the doctor sent me for an MRI, which was December 22nd of 2017.

Bri (03:22)
I have so many questions about what you shared already. This is so interesting. I never thought that breathing could be connected to headaches. I'm curious if they shared anything about their thought process there and why they thought they might be connected.

Joyce McCann (03:23)
They were saying that the lack of breathing at night could harm your heart, which you know if you don't have enough breathing your heart fails and that could cause headaches.

Bri (03:52)
I'm telling you, Joyce, I learn new things with every episode and every guest. Wow. So you mentioned, you were originally having the ice pick headaches in your twenties, and then it was in 2016 when this came up. How much time passed?

Joyce McCann (04:02)
20 years. I’m now 59. I was diagnosed when I was 51.

Bri (04:12)
Wow, so you had these ice pick headaches for 20 years.

Joyce McCann (04:17)
Yes.

Bri (04:17)
And what was the impact of this on your life? I mean, obviously you're seeing a doctor and they're giving you medication, but I mean, is this something you're managing and able to continue with your life or is it something that's really impeding your life?

Joyce McCann (04:33)
At the best as I could I was. It's like when it was really, really hard, I would take Tylenol or whatever medication that would relieve it right then and there. And then I'd go lie down and just relax a little bit and just meditate, live my life as best as I could, healthiest as I could.

Bri (04:54)
Yeah. And you're starting a family all alongside this.

Joyce McCann (04:58)
That's right.

Bri (04:59)
Of course, you know, we both know as women when there's a pregnancy involved, your body changes already so much. And so what did these headaches look like in that, in that period of time?

Joyce McCann (05:15)
Well, a little bit stronger, I would say, because at that time I did not want to take medication. I didn't want to harm my babies. But what was harder to that could be stress related. I separated in 2010. So I was left to be a single mom of two younger children. So that caused a lot of stress. It could have been, you know, a damaging point.

Bri (05:38)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely.

(Transition music.)

Bri (05:39)
Have you been wanting to share your story? Wherever you are in your journey and whatever your relationship is to the brain tumor community, I’m looking for more guests for future episodes. Check out rewired-minds.com/guest to share your interest. Your story really truly matters, and I want to help you share it.

(Transition music.)

Bri (06:08)
How was it that your team was able to pull apart the stressors that might be causing the headaches and the breathing issues versus what you ultimately find out was a meningioma?

Joyce McCann (05:57)
Well, when I went for my CPAP, my sleep apnea testing, at that point they didn't know. They weren't seeing anything. I had never had an MRI or a CAT scan, nothing. They were just, you know, they did an EEG just to test my brain waves. And that's when the doctor had given me those, that medication. And it was only in 2018, 17 when I had my MRI. That's when they actually said, okay, it is a tumor.

Bri (06:29)
Wow. And what prompted them to do the MRI finally?

Joyce McCann (06:33)
It was when I walked in to see my doctor and with my symptoms, like I have a headache, I can't focus. And the doctor says, OK, we'll send you for an MRI and we'll see from there. So, like I said, that was December 22, 2017 and then January 4th my family doctor called me to go see him in his office and he walks into the examining room and I'll always remember that he said so Joyce he says deja vu's huh? I said yeah weird ay? He says no my dear. He says you have a tumor in your in your brain I’m like I don’t know. My face must have just dropped, but he was making it sound like he says, if you're to have a brain tumor, this is the best kind to have.

Bri (07:28)
And who were you with when you got this news? It sounds like you may have been at this appointment by yourself.

Joyce McCann (07:34)
By myself.

Bri (07:35)
That's quite some news to get without any physical presence. Where did you go for support?

Joyce McCann (07:42)
After that appointment, I went straight to my parents. We live in the same town, so I walked in my… I still remember my dad was outside cutting the lawn and he says, so how did your appointment go? I said, I have a tumor and I started crying. And then we both walked into the house and my mom was in the house and she says, so how did it go? I said, I have a tumor and all three of us were crying.

And then we hugged and then from then till I got my surgery on January 30th, from January 4th to January 30th, it was just a waiting game. I had to meet with a neurologist and neurosurgeon and booking a surgery date, pre-op surgery date and it was a quick but long.

Bri (08:30)
Yeah, all at once. Wow. On one hand, feel the weight of that moment when you're with your parents and everyone's crying. I feel that weight as you're describing it. At the same time, there also seems to be like love is the word that keeps coming to mind. Like just imagine the three of you all hugging each other and holding each other and almost like a we're going to get through this together. What did you feel in that moment? How would you describe it?

Joyce McCann (08:59)
Supported. I knew they were there for me. I knew I'd get everything from them to help me get through this hard times in my life. And after that, I was in a common law relationship. My partner was gone out of town because he was a truck driver. So that night I called him and I gave him the news, regretfully over the phone, but he knew I had an appointment right?

And I said, I have bad news. I said I have a tumor. And after that he was by my side every appointment, every phone call, everything. He was by my side.

Bri (09:36)
And where were your kids through all of this?

Joyce McCann (09:38)
I didn't tell them right away. I just wanted to process it myself first. And then when I told them my daughter, who is the oldest one, said, are you going to be okay mom? I said, yes, I'm going to be fine. Everything's going to be fine. The doctors are going to take care of your mom and everything will go back to normal. And she accepted that.

My son, while he was a little bit too young. I don't know how to explain that. I guess he was just like nonchalant about it.

Bri (10:08)
I’m imagining several different possibilities here. A lack of understanding or focus was elsewhere or maybe even potential like avoidance, denial, not wanting to face it. Which one of those feels more, most accurate?

Joyce McCann (10:23)
Probably not understanding what was going on what what it meant, you know how severe it could be.

Bri (10:32)
And how old was he at the time?

Joyce McCann (10:33)
He's 25 now and it was eight years ago, so 18. You know, just not baby, but, you know…

Bri (10:43)
A pivotal time.

Joyce McCann (10:43)
Yes, yes. But after that, they were great support.

Bri (10:47)
Yeah, so how did surgery go?

Joyce McCann (10:49)
Surgery went, well, I'm alive, so it went good, but it was scheduled for eight o'clock in the morning. The surgeon had told me it would last three to four hours. It lasted 10 hours. My tumor was wrapped around my optical nerve and my artery in my brain. And every time we try to go and get the part of the tumor that was around my artery, my heart would flutter. So at one point apparently I coded.

He managed to remove 90% of a golf ball sized tumor and he had to leave 10% in because he would have killed me. And that's what he told me afterwards. He says, I had to stop there because I would have killed you. Coming out after 10 hours of surgery, he told my spouse, he says, don't tell her mom yet that she's out of the woods. I just want to keep her safe first and then we'll tell her parents what's going on.

So they kept me sedated throughout the night. They woke me up in the morning and I woke up no problem. And after that point, then my parents got the news that everything was good and there was no damage. Just the fact that, you know, I was a touch and go at that point.

Bri (12:13)
And how much of being in the hospital do you remember personally?

Joyce McCann (12:18)
That first day, like the next morning, it was a certain things I remember. My spouse always hung his keys on his buckle of his jeans. And I remember clear as day him walking down the hallway and all I could hear was the keys. It's so funny. That's one thing I remember. And I said, here it comes. And I used to call him bear. Here comes my bear.

And I remember the visit my parents gave that day with my kids, but the nurses and everything else I don't remember at all.

Bri (12:50)
It sounds like you are remembering the most impactful moments, which I think is probably the things we would want to remember, right? Not that the nurses aren't important or critical as well.

I love that image and just the sounds of the keys jingling.

And so how long before you were discharged and able to go home?

Joyce McCann (12:56)
Five days after.

Bri (13:12)
Okay. And when you come home, what does that look like? What does recovery entail for you?

Joyce McCann (13:19)
I spent a week at my parents' my common-law spouse had to go back on the road at that time. So I spent a week at my parents' house with my kids. And then they were, they even gave me their bed because their bed could elevate. They have those hospital beds that the head elevates. So they gave me their beds so could sleep in and I stayed there and it was the best place to be. I was back home with my parents.

Bri (13:49)
Yeah, it sounds like the best place. They, again, I just keep saying love. I mean, gosh, I just, I just feel this outpouring of love that, yeah, yeah. What was your relationship like with your parents before all of this came up?

Joyce McCann (14:04)
The best, the best. I lived in a perfect household. My parents are very loving towards each other, towards the kids. I have one brother and the grandkids are their life. It's a very loving family we have.

Bri (14:21)
Yeah, very close knit it sounds.

Joyce McCann (14:23)
Very.

Bri (14:23)
Yeah. So imagine getting news like this, not just was a surprise to you, but maybe even rocked the whole family.

Joyce McCann (14:32)
A little bit, yeah.

Bri (14:33)
That's that ripple effect, that impact.

Joyce McCann (14:40)
Yeah. And then like after that, I got the news like everybody's worried, you know, does it run in the family? Even like cousins, aunts and uncles. Oh my God, why is she getting that? Nobody else has it in the family. And it's true. Why did I get that? You know, not that I pity myself because I got it, but why? Why did it end up me getting it? You know, and not a cousin or an aunt. And what causes this? Yeah.

Bri (15:05)
That's the hard part about this is, I mean, just each individual person, there's so many questions that come up and so many of them can't be answered. But then you add to that this layer that there's so much about the brain and this specific diagnosis that we don't know. It adds even more questions. It can be really hard to have so much uncertainty. do you handle uncertainty?

Joyce McCann (15:35)
Day by day. There's no other way. Can't think of the future. I can't think of what could have happened. What did I do wrong? You know, can't think like that.

Bri (15:45)
What do you think about?

Joyce McCann (15:47)
I think of the future. I think how good my days are going to be. What am I, you know, how am I going to, what are we going to do this summer? What are we going to, you know, where are we going to go?

Bri (15:57)
I hear a mentality of just keep living. Don't let it stop you.

Joyce McCann (16:00)
No, you can't.

Bri (16:03)
I love that perspective.

And of course, as we mentioned at the start of our conversation, you recently have been experiencing some symptoms. And so if you're feeling ready for it, I'd love to kind of talk about that a little bit.

Joyce McCann (16:19)
After my surgery, let's go back a little bit too.


Bri (16:23)
Sure.

Joyce McCann (16:23)
After my surgery, everything like was progressing well and doing good. In 2020, it grew back to 50%. They had reduced it to 10%. And then it grew back to 50% of the golf ball size tumor. And so I needed six weeks of radiation.

So after that, everything was okay. It stopped everything. It's not growing. It's not shrinking as of yet. I was on a six month MRI watch after my six weeks of radiation. It wasn't showing any growth, any shrinkage.

And so, but I was feeling sometimes I was feeling like I was having auras. So they would switch my medication to try to accommodate. And this last March, I had a seizure, March 24th. I don't remember having it, but my partner seen me. I was in a daze. Like he knew I was having a moment and he knew that was a seizure I was having, so I went to my neurologist.

Bri (17:27)
Where were you when you had the seizure?

Joyce McCann (17:29)
This last one I was at home on the couch watching TV. So I don't know what brought this one on. I don't know if it's, if I missed medication, if I'm stressed, I didn't know. So again, my neurologist switched my medication. I lost my license for nine months and now I'm just waiting for my next MRI.

Bri (17:50)
So at this point, is it correct to say that you don't know whether there's growth or not? You're kind of waiting to find out.

Joyce McCann (17:56)
Yes, I'm kind of waiting, but I'm optimistic that there is no growth.

Bri (18:03)
Have they shared with you at all about what next steps might entail if there was to be growth?

Joyce McCann (18:10)
My neurosurgeon, when he was done, after my follow-ups with him, he told me, he says, I will never operate on you again. So if it grows again, I will either have to go see a different surgeon or do a different technique. I don't know, but he personally will not operate on me, he said.

Bri (18:31)
Yeah, and I find that’s pretty common that usually once you have the first surgery, they're pretty reluctant to go back in a second time. Yeah.

So you're you're currently in this space of knowing that you're having seizures, knowing that something new is happening, but not quite having answers as to why. It kind of feels like maybe like this limbo phase. How are you managing this space in between?

Joyce McCann (19:01)
I think right now I'm just putting it in the back of my head. I don't want to think about it. I don't want to have the same feelings I had when I was in limbo there thinking, oh my God, what's going to happen? And it's just pushed in the back of my head at this point.

I feel confident that they won't see anything. It was my other scans that I might have felt that like, oh my God, are they gonna see that it grew after my surgery, you know? This one, I'm pretty confident that they won't see anything. I think it was just a medication. Like I've been on medication now for eight years, so maybe they start to wear off. After a certain amount of time, I'm not sure.

Bri (19:44)
What gives you that confidence?

Joyce McCann (19:46)
So far I've been lucky. I don't know. I just, I feel it in my heart that it won't be bad.

Bri (19:51)
I'm so fascinated by this Joyce because I have had so many conversations with so many people and I have yet to meet anyone, not to say that they're not out there, but I haven't yet met anyone who has this outlook and perspective, determination, confidence heading into a scan.

I certainly have had conversations with people after their scan where that confidence shows up and they're feeling good and able to look towards their future, but not on the front end. And so it's got me intrigued about, you know, where do you draw on this from? Where do you find this?

Joyce McCann (20:34)
In my heart. I know God's with me and going back again to my surgery, having like, I almost died that day and I believe strongly that God made me live because I had two children to raise. So I came back for my children and again like they're adults now 30 and 25. So I know that like not that they need me but, you know, it's I'm here for them. You know, I live for them.

Bri (21:01)
How are they reacting to the current seizures and possibility of a scan?

Joyce McCann (21:06)
My daughter doesn't live with me, so she's like, she's like, okay? She'll call me once in a while. You okay, mom? Everything's good? Yeah, everything's good.

My son is still, like he sees it so he he knows if I'm having a good day or a bad day but he doesn't ask any question. He's quiet about it.

Bri (21:27)
What's been the most challenging part of all of this?

Joyce McCann (21:29)
You’re gonna make me cry now. During, I mentioned my spouse, Bear. So I had my seizure, my surgery in January of 2018 and he passed away on May 20th, 2019. That was the hardest because he was with me throughout it all.

Bri (21:31)
Oh Joyce, I'm so sorry.

Joyce McCann (21:53)
And I was him in his last few days of life and that's the hardest. I met him for a reason and we were together. He was there for me for my difficult time and I was there for him when he passed. I know it's not related to brains but that is my hardest.

Bri (22:12)
If he were here today, what would you want him to know?

Joyce McCann (22:15)
That I appreciate and love everything he did for me and I'm still close to his family, which is a miracle. I've now known his family more than I've been with him. He was my rock.

Bri (22:30)
Yeah, you've got an incredible, I just am imagining like this web of support.

Joyce McCann (22:37)
And I have two work families. I work at the hospital. So I worked in registration and then at the hospital. And when I found out I had a tumor, I was working in a different department, Children's Treatment Center, temporarily. And then when I came back, I came back to registration. So I have kind of two families there and they've supported me throughout this. It's unbelievable.

The social worker at Children's Treatment Centre would come because after radiation every Tuesday after the following Tuesday after my week of radiation I would meet with my oncologist and the social worker would come with me for support.

Bri (23:27)
That's amazing. What advice or message you might have for someone who's listening that maybe doesn't feel like they have the level of support that you have experienced?

Joyce McCann (23:40)
I think you have to keep an open, not an open mind, a positive mind. You have to think it will, it will go good. Like it's hard, I know it's hard. It's very, very hard. I had my kids that I kept in the back of my mind. I'm here for them. I have to live for them. You have to find, focus on a positive part of your life, you know? Whether it be maybe a pet, I don't know. I gotta get through this so that I can do that. I gotta get through this so can go visit Europe, you know, just have a focus on something that you want.

Bri (24:16)
I love that. Something to live for.

Joyce McCann (24:19)
That's right.

Bri (24:19)
Joyce, how has this whole experience rewired your mind?

Joyce McCann (24:23)
It's it brought back a lot of emotions that maybe I've left, I kept inside of me, but I'm grateful.

Bri (24:31)
I am extremely grateful as well. I mentioned your vulnerability upfront. I also, you know, something I shared with you before we started recording is just how much overlap there is in our experiences, not just in tumor type and treatment, but even the timeline. I mean, it's almost like we've been living in parallel worlds to one another without knowing the other existed until recently. I'm just so, so grateful that our paths have crossed and brought us together in this way. And I imagine that some of the listeners might feel similarly and they may want to get in touch. How can listeners get in touch with you?

Joyce McCann (25:12)
Facebook, my email.

Bri (25:20)
I will put both of those in the show notes for listeners to be able to easily find you. And I, again, just appreciate you taking the time to connect and chat and share your story. Thanks so much Joyce.

Joyce McCann (25:35)
Thank you, Bri.

Bri (25:41)
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. If you or someone you know has a brain tumor story to share, I'd love to hear from you. Visit rewired-minds.com 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. If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share with someone who might need to hear it.

Bri (26:13)
The stories shared in this podcast 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.