TEAM TABITHA

BY LANCE SCHWARTZ • DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATION

Before the Bethany Spring 2020 athletic seasons were canceled due to the pandemic, the women’s softball team learned of a young girl from Mankato facing a difficult medical diagnosis. This situation motivated the team to dedicate their season to this young lady, and suddenly the 2020 campaign was focused on something more than just victories.

Just over a year ago, Tabitha, a 14-year-old who attends Loyola Catholic School in Mankato, started to experience bad headaches behind her left eye. While the initial thought might be a migraine, Tabitha’s mom decided to visit an urgent care clinic just to make sure there wasn’t anything else going on. An astute nurse practitioner at the clinic immediately recognized this was more than a migraine and referred Tabitha to an ophthalmologist for further testing. After a nearly three-hour visit, the physician noticed Tabitha had no peripheral vision in either eye and there was “something” behind her eyes.

Tabitha was referred to Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato where they discovered a mass on her brain. She was immediately referred to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Over the course of just five days, Tabitha went from a bad headache to a diagnosis of an undetermined brain mass.

At Mayo, Tabitha experienced a series of tests and doctor visits. The physicians couldn’t immediately determine the type of growth it was because it was both so large and was displaying symptoms of three different kinds of tumors. In order to receive a correct diagnosis, Tabitha endured a rightsided craniotomy to obtain a biopsy of the tumor. It was determined that Tabitha had an Optic Pathway Glioma Brain Tumor (Pilocytic Astrocytoma Grade One Glioma), an extremely rare tumor.

During the biopsy surgery, however, Tabitha lost the vision in her left eye completely. Every type of brain tumor has a different treatment. The best path of treatment for an Optic Pathway Glioma is typically chemotherapy. About a month after her craniotomy, Tabitha had another surgery to place an implantable port into her right chest and neck area so that she could receive chemotherapy, medications, and blood draws through it. Since March of 2019, Tabitha has been receiving chemotherapy on a regular basis.

Tabitha’s type of tumor may grow back, but often by the time a person reaches their early 20s, the tumor stops growing. Tabitha has been strong throughout her illness and she hasn’t let the ordeal hold her back.

Her mother said, “We just keep our faith that her tumor won’t grow back and she will beat this!”

Bethany’s entire softball team chose to play for Tabitha this 2020 season, and are praying for complete healing.

Before the cancellation of the season, team captain Jenna Reynolds said, “As a team, we now have a deeper meaning to our season. This gives us something more to play for than just ourselves. Through this we have discovered that there is more to life than just softball.”

The team had tabbed their April 18, 2020, contest versus University of Minnesota-Morris as a day especially for Tabitha where they would be raising funds for the Make-a-Wish program. They hope to make the event happen now in the spring of 2021.