How Iconic Actress Mary Tyler Moore Beat Her Brain Tumor
- Actress Mary Tyler Moore passed away at age 80 on January 25, 2017, due to cardiopulmonary arrest complicated by pneumonia.
- In 2011, Moore had a benign brain tumor called a meningioma and underwent surgery to treat it.
- Symptoms of a meningioma include vision changes, hearing loss, loss of memory, seizures, headaches, and weak arms and legs.
The brain tumor survivor’s work had a broad and powerful impact. Oprah has spoken about the show’s profound impact on her. When Moore passed, Oprah told People magazine, “Mary Tyler Moore majorly influenced my life and career. I respected and admired her business acumen, her passion and compassion for all life, and most importantly, the values espoused through her storytelling. I thank her for being a light that shined so brightly, it let me see myself in her."
Read MoreMary’s Brain Tumor & Health Battles
The Dick Van Dyke Show actress also battled a brain tumor in 2011. She had surgery to remove a meningioma, which is a benign brain tumor located at the meninges (membranes that line the brain and the spinal cord). “At the recommendation of her neurologist, who has been monitoring this for years, and a neurosurgeon, Mary decided to proceed with this fairly routine procedure,” Moore’s representative told People magazine.
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Symptoms of a meningioma include vision changes, hearing loss, loss of memory, seizures, headaches, and weak arms and legs. As a result of her type 1 diabetes, Moore endured declining vision later in life. Moore had heart and kidney trouble later in life, too.
Despite her health issues, Moore remains a role model and a great example of someone who overcame an addiction to alcohol and thrived in life well into her later years. Her legacy lives on through her vast history of entertainment work and advocacy.
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Understanding Brain Tumors
Brain tumors can result from brain cancer and other cancers, particularly when cancer metastasizes, or spreads. Cancer can spread from different areas of the body such as the lungs or the breasts and affect the brain, too. Metastatic cancer is often called "stage four," and treatment options can be more limited at later stage diagnoses for cancer.
Dr. Melanie Hayden Gephart, a neurosurgeon at Stanford Medicine, explained the spread of cancer to SurvivorNet in a previous interview. She said, "Lung cancer is one of the most common types of tumors to metastasize to the brain. I think the key is that if we can minimize the side effects of the treatment, that's our main goal, and provide effective treatment of the brain tumor. That frequently looks like a combination of systemic chemotherapy, or targeted therapies, focused radiation, and surgery."
Dr. Hayden Gephart said that certain factors are at play when looking at treatment options. "Surgery's indicated if the tumor is over a certain size, is otherwise limited, and if the patient has a significant neurologic deficit that is associated with that tumor itself,” explains Dr. Gephart. “Focused radiation is ideal if there's a small number of small-volume tumors. Whole-brain radiation is indicated if the patient has failed other mechanisms of systemic treatment and has too many tumors that could be treated with focused radiation."
Treatment options for brain tumors are possible. Dr. Gephart says, "Sometimes when patients are diagnosed with metastatic brain tumors, right at the initial time of diagnosis where they're treatment-naive have not seen any treatments if they have a particular mutation and can get targeted therapy, even the brain metastases can respond well to systemic chemotherapy."
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