Family recounts mother's battle with cancer Family speaks about mother's struggle with aggressive brain tumor BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer WOODBRIDGE - In just two days, 65-year-old Beverly Falocco's life changed forever. "My mother [Beverly] called me as she was paying her bills and said, 'Donna, I was able to write my first name, but when I was going to write my last name, it's like either my hand stopped working or my brain forgot what to do,'" recalled Beverly's daughter Donna Falocco-Shurmann. It was June 16, 2007. Shurmann remembers telling her mother not to worry. "My mother was working six days a week [at the Eye Center of Clark, where she had worked for 10 years], so I thought she probably was just tired and I told her that she probably needed to relax," she said. "Everything seemed OK until all of a sudden she called me that Sunday [June 17] and told me she couldn't feel her legs." Shurmann said she thought maybe it had something to do with her mother's back surgery a few years ago. "I have a bad back also, and I thought something pinched her nerve," she said. "In my mind, I was making these plans to bring her to the back doctor and also a neurologist the next day. But my mother was complaining about severe pain, so I decided that we just go to the emergency room [at Rahway Hospital] … she reluctantly agreed and told me to make sure that we were home early because she had work the next day." The doctors conducted a chest X-ray and CAT scan. "One of the doctors pulled me aside and said, "We see something in her brain and she needs to stay,' " said Shurmann. Falocco was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme [GBM], which is the most common and aggressive type of primary brain tumor. The tumor was on the left side of her brain. Despite being the most common brain tumor, it occurs in only two to three cases per 100,000 people in Europe and North America. "My mother was up for anything at that point just to get better," said Shurmann. Doctors at Morristown Memorial Hospital conducted a biopsy, where they confirmed that it was GBM. Falocco was transported to Overlook Hospital in Summit, where she had surgery. Doctors were able to scoop out most of the cancer. "They had to leave three little pencilpoint size dots of the brain tumor," said Shurmann. "When she came out of the surgery, she lost control of almost everything on her right side and she couldn't talk." A therapist from JFK Medical Center in Edison came to work with Falocco. "My mom's speech came back for about two weeks … it was not normal, but we could understand her," said Shurmann. "But after the two weeks, her speech had just stopped and has never come back." The oncologist put Falocco on a regimen of intense radiation and chemotherapy at Atlantic Highlands Care Center and JFK Medical Center. "I was told that after the treatment, my mother could live another 30 years," said Shurmann, who said she had plans for her mother to move into her home in Colonia. "We were actually looking at homes before she got sick." After a few weeks of radiation and chemotherapy, Shurmann and her sister, Lisa Falocco, had a gut feeling that something was wrong. "I know after radiation and chemotherapy, patients get tired, but she was always tired … we took her out of therapy and brought her back to get checked up at Morristown Memorial Hospital," said Shurmann. The sisters' instincts were right. "The tumor was back even bigger than before," she said. "It grew back in the same place and was pushing into the right side of her brain. She was given 30 days to live." The sisters brought their mother to the Cranford Extended Care Center in September, bracing for what was to come. "She was given 30 days to live, but her heart is so strong and she is still here, but not really here," said Shurmann. "My mother is sometimes agitated because of all the pain, and when she is in pain she clenches her fists. She has her good days and bad days. She only eats and drinks half of what she normally does. Her heart rate is still OK and most of the time she recognizes us, but I see changes every three days with her." Shurmann brought in her friend Caroline Ferraillo, a hospice nurse, to do an evaluation on her mother on Feb. 10. "Caroline told me the little tremors I see in her eyes are little seizures," she said. "I call hospice and tell them what changes I see, and then we see what we do from there. The doctor here at the center has called her his miracle patient because he hasn't seen a patient with GBM live this long. It's in God's hands." Shurmann, who quit her job three weeks ago, is at the center every day with her children, John Michael, 24, Dana, 21, and Briana, 16, and her sister, Lisa, and Lisa's daughter, Gina, 13. Shurmann also hopes she can bring her mother's 3-yearold pug, Quazzie, to visit her. "I'm here from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or until they kick me out," she said. "I just felt that this was the most important time to be there for my mom to show her the love and appreciation that I have for her … it's my time to give back for all that she has given me. You never think this could happen to you, and to see your mom like this, it just kills you. " Shurmann, who said medical expenses are piling up with hospital visits and the care center, has set up a fund for her mother with Bank of America. "I just can't breathe," she said. "My sister and I are single parents and I used all the money I had to make my mom more comfortable and give her the funeral service she deserves." People can send donations to Donna Falocco-Shurmann at 43 Hoffman Blvd., Colonia, NJ 07067.