How Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader survived a life-threatening tumor

A Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader who believed she was suffering from hearing loss was instead left fighting for her life after doctors made a rare discovery.

After spending a decade performing for one of the biggest NFL teams, which is headed to the Super Bowl this weekend for the third time in a row, Shanna Adamic, 44, reported not being able to hear from her right ear first in 2011.

Over the span of six years, the Kansas City mother-of-three visited multiple doctors complaining of constant headaches, a partial loss of vision and slurred speech, but said each time she was ‘misdiagnosed, underdiagnosed or even dismissed as a tired overworked mom.’

Ms Adamic told DailyMail.com: ‘I was told I may be suffering anything from a common cold to sleep apnea, sinus infection, even Lemierre’s disease, vertigo.

‘I was treated for dehydration many, many times. [My condition] was blamed on hormonal changes, breastfeeding my kids, menstrual period.

‘I felt crazy and I started to believe that there was nothing wrong with me.’

At one point, a doctor suggested she may suffering from ear damage due to regularly being surrounded by loud noises in stadiums.

Out of an abundance of caution, she underwent a CT scan of her head and was told her brain ‘looked great.’

So it came as a complete shock that just a year later, a two-inch tumor was found in Ms Adamic’s ear, dangerously pushing against her brain.

Ms Adamic, now-Executive Director of the Oracle Health Foundation, told this website: ‘I was given a CT head scan a year before I was diagnosed where I was told my brain looked great and that I was probably just a tired, overworked mom.’

However, after watching a celebrity interview about similar symptoms on the TODAY show and with some encouragement from her husband, she decided to undergo more testing and got an MRI.

The scan revealed Ms Adamic had a nearly two-inch wide tumor growing in her right ear.

Known as an acoustic neuroma or vestibular schwannoma, the non-cancerous tumor develops on the vestibular nerve, which connects the inner ear to the brain.

The branches of the nerve are known to affect balance and hearing.

The development of the tumor is rare and occurs in about one in 100,000 people, approximately 2,500 people every year. They are most likely to be found in people between the ages of 65 to 74, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

While the cause of an acoustic neuroma is unknown in most cases, sometimes it can be linked to a problem with a gene on chromosome 22, which is associated with the immune system and birth defects.

Like most cases, Ms Adamic’s tumor was benign, but due to its location and the fact it was nearly the size of a golf ball, doctors found it to be was life-threatening as it was compressing the brainstem.

‘When I received my diagnosis, the doctor referred to it as a ticking time bomb,’ said Ms Adamic.

‘And he said, “it’s pressing on your on and off switch” and I will never forget the feeling of hearing that and thinking, “okay, what do I do next?”‘

In order to save her life, doctors told her she needed a translabyrinthine craniotomy to remove to the tumor.

However, her current doctor was unable to perform the surgery and recommended she find someone else.

In a plea for help, Ms Adamic posted about her condition and asked for suggestions about what to do on Instagram.

Eventually, the former cheerleader reconnected with her college friend Dr Amy Pittman, an otolaryngologist at Loyola Medicine in Illinois who had commented on her post.

Dr Pittman then went on to consult with her colleagues, Otologic Surgeon Dr John Leonetti and Neurosurgeon Dr Douglas Anderson.

Days later, Ms Adamic made the journey to Loyola University Medical Center for the surgery.

She told the website: ‘I remember Dr Anderson reassuring me, “You’re going to go to sleep and wake up and get your life back.”

‘Both doctors made me feel really confident in the care I would receive and the belief in them as a team that they could perform this and give me my life back.’

Ms Adamic underwent a 13 hour surgery where doctors removed 99 percent of the acoustic neuroma tumor.

When she woke up, she was left with partial facial weakness on the right side of her face and unable to hear out of her right ear.

Ms Adamic was unable to chew or close her right eye but remained determined to have a full recovery: ‘I think that audacious optimism is something that’s found when there’s kind of that space of gritty hope. It’s found in moments that are sometimes some of the darkest moments.

‘In that moment that I found going into that surgery and waking up with with my life, but then also a very different version of me [of having ]one side paralysis and not knowing if I was going to get my facial function back on that side, gaining my mobility functions, all of that.

‘I had to really kind of dig deep in that moment to think how was I going to love this version of me coming out of it and going to use this to be a positive force?

‘And I remember writing myself a note that I taped up in front of my reflection on the mirror so that I wouldn’t look at the girl in the mirror that I didn’t recognize.

Her note read: ‘I will smile with all my teeth again. I will be able to swallow on both sides, I will close my eyes completely, I will be a better version of me.’

Talking about what convinced her to keep looking for answers for six years, she told DailyMail.com: ‘I think I had to keep listening to this inner voice that kept telling me something was wrong. And it did.

‘It constantly told me something was wrong. I was not ready. And, you know, after you go back and knock on the door so many times, you start to feel that, that you’re actually kind of crazy and you’re like, “Hey, maybe that thing is wrong.”

‘But I kept having to listen to it and I think that just being able to have the capability and the confidence in my own self to just say one more time. I’m going to go talk to them again I’m going to go tell them something is wrong again.’

After years of physical therapy and perseverance, Ms Adamic made a full recovery and a recent MRI showed no signs of the tumor.

Loyola University Medical Center also confirmed to DailyMail.com that since the first 13-hour surgery, she has not gotten or required any additional surgeries or treatment.

The institute also said that there is no risk of her developing another tumor on the other side of her face.

‘Every day that we walk into the room, the operating room, we wish for all patients to have the outcome that Shanna did. It was truly remarkable and we’re thankful to have helped,’ said Dr. Leonetti.

And for anyone in a similar situation, Ms Adamic said: ‘One of the things that I definitely really focus on to is how important it is to advocate for yourself, that you are your own best friend.

‘You know your body better than anyone else. And I think that that’s something I take with me. Past that moment is reminding myself to listen to my inner voice every single time and realize that I need to push forward to get the answers when I need them,’ she ultimately said of her experience.