Sports Illustrated model Victoria Vesce recently opened up about a major health battle that started in 2017, when she was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor.
Vesce told Fox News in an interview published Saturday that she knew something was wrong early on, but was continually misdiagnosed for about six months. When she was finally diagnosed with multiple paraganglioma, Vesce said her “heart just dropped.”
“I felt a sense of relief, honestly,” the model said. “For six months, I felt like doctors thought I was crazy. From the outside, I looked perfectly healthy. But I just knew something was wrong with me.”
Doctors found Vesce had nerve damage and was losing her hearing.
“I just thought maybe I hurt my ear somehow during NBA dance practice,” said Vesce, who was a dancer for the Charlotte Hornets from 2014-2017. “But, eventually, I was told, ‘We found a mass in your head.’ My heart just dropped.”
SI Swim model recalls overcoming ‘nightmare’ brain tumor https://t.co/lq1OQYojDC
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 9, 2022
“I was 23 years old,” Vesce continued. “I’m healthy. How could this happen? In one way, it was good to know that I wasn’t going crazy. But, by then, it had spread down my neck into my carotid artery. I went from living my best life, traveling, modeling. Then I get hit with something insane. I was relieved to finally have an answer, but I didn’t know how to react. It was like my nightmare, a nightmare coming to fruition.”
Vesce, now an advocate for the National Brain Tumor Society, was treated at Duke University Hospital, where she volunteered to participate in a study involving rare tumors, Fox News noted.
The treatment was a “terrifying” prospect, Vesce said, but she tried to stay as positive as possible, noting that “stress can trigger brain tumor growth.”
“I was told I needed surgery, or I would be at risk of paralysis or even death,” she recalled. “I was terrified, but I did it – May 2017. I went through a six-week recovery time to eat and walk again. It took forever just to stand up. I thought it would be all over. But then I ended up doing 30 rounds of experimental radiation treatment.”
Fast-forward to 2022, and Vesce is doing “great,” while routinely checking on her health.
“I’m doing great,” she told Fox News. “I mean, I lost 100% of hearing in my right ear. I do go for routine MRI checkups because they have to leave remnants of the tumor in my head. It wrapped around my brain stem. There are a lot of nerves involved and if they end up touching it, I could be instantly paralyzed or have a stroke. So there is some of it in my head that gets monitored by an MRI. But luckily, everything’s been stable.”
The model emphasized that it was her late mother who kept her motivated during the hard times.
“It was a dark period in my life,” she said. “I have always been pretty positive, maybe a little stubborn. But my mother, my best friend, she kept me motivated. She would always say, ‘We’re gonna get through this together.'”
“Honestly, if I didn’t have such a strong support system of family and friends, I’m not sure if I would have gotten through everything,” Vesce added. “They kept me mentally strong.”
Read the full interview at Fox News
Related: ‘Overwhelmed With Gratefulness’: Model Who Walked Headfirst Into Airplane Propeller Now A Mother