The young man recalled one of the worst stages of his life five years ago. He recognized that his mother, Cecilia Bolocco, was key.
Maximo Menem Bolocco He is a cancer survivor and to raise awareness regarding the disease, the teenager told how the days were like before his diagnosis and the symptoms that led him to seek help.
Cecilia Bolocco’s son remembered in space we are your voice that during 2018 he began to experience severe headaches “just behind his eyes”. At that time, her mother thought they were excuses for not going to school, but at the boy’s insistence, she decided to take him to the clinic… several times.
At the clinic, he was repeatedly diagnosed with migraine. “In November of that year, I went to the psychologist and he closed my school year on November 9, because he said ‘this child is going to explode at any second. He can’t go on like this,” he recounted.
“On Tuesday, November 13, 2018, I woke up with a headache. I tell my mom and she’s like, ‘what’s weird? If she is not going to school why would she make this up to me now, ”she recalled.
The cheerleader asked her son to go take a bath to clear his head a bit and then come back to tell her how he felt. While he was on his way to the bathroom, Máximo began to feel worse and even vomited.
“I look in the mirror, I look at myself and I say, ‘This is not right,’” he said.
Once once more, he went to the clinic where he registered a fever of 37.1, which is the same one that he had had almost every day in recent weeks.
On that occasion, he was once more diagnosed with migraine. “There my mom said, ‘no’. She spoke to the doctor and told her: ‘Do all kinds of tests, whatever, because it’s the seventh time we’ve come here and they give you the same diagnosis,’” she recounted.
The doctors accepted and subjected him to a scanner and a PET, where the tumor the size of a tennis ball emerged in the left frontal lobe, which is in charge of emotions.
After that he was hospitalized, and “There is a gap, I don’t remember anything”.
His memory only began to return when he was already hospitalized and feeling the company of many people who came to see him. “I never felt afraid. I don’t know how to explain it, but I never felt afraid. My mom was essential. I don’t know what I would have done without her.” acknowledged.
Máximo underwent surgery on November 16, in a surgery that lasted 8 hours. Although it was thought that he would be in the ICU for a week, on the second day he was able to be discharged and was able to spend his birthday at home.
After that, he left with his mother for the US, where he was treated. “The problem with the treatment and the disease itself is that the tumor called ARRT was so rare, and even rarer because it usually appears in children between 2 and 3 years of age, in the back of the head.”
“I was 14 years old, they removed the frontal lobe of my head, and nobody knew what to do with me. I was lucky it came out superficial and they were able to get it out. I owe my life to the doctor, for this shocking operation, where I was able to remove the tumor. He is the main savior,” he added.
Máximo Menem and the trip to the United States
Once in the United States, they received different treatment proposals, which were very different from each other.
The situation was complex, until they were able to contact Saint Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, where I was able to complete the treatment.
“It is a public hospital in the United States where everything they do and achieve is for the benefit of the rest. With the rarest cases they are obtaining cures, as research. They contacted my mother and we went there, ”she concluded.
It should be noted that the young man will continue with routine check-ups for this disease. He is currently 19 years old and entered the university following graduating from college.
