UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology_SS 2025_FOR PRINT - Flipbook - Page 15
UCLA RADIATION ONCOLOGY JOURNAL
BONNIE WHAM-PRUTOW
AGAINST THE ODDS
n Halloween night in 2021, Bonnie
Wham-Prutow and her family faced
a real-life nightmare. The emergency
room doctor on the Big Island of Hawaii had
just told her that she had metastatic brain
cancer, and they believed she only had a couple
of weeks to live.
O
ONE
PATIENT'S
CARE WITH
Bonnie and her husband, David, were
completely taken by surprise. Bonnie had
previously visited her primary care doctor for
headaches and balance issues, but was told she
had vertigo.
To say they were devastated would be an
understatement.
“We were really caught o昀昀 guard,” said Bonnie,
69. “We went from getting ready to go trick-ortreating with our grandkids to being told I had
maybe weeks to live.”
RADIATION
ONCOLOGY
Metastatic brain cancer, or brain metastases,
occurs when cancer spreads to the brain from
other parts of the body. It a昀昀ects between
10% and 25% of adult cancer patients, with
an estimated 98,000 to 170,000 new cases
diagnosed annually — a number that continues
to increase.
It turns out the breast cancer Bonnie thought
she had beaten years ago had returned, but this
time it was in her brain. Her MRI showed an
extensive number of inoperable tumors.
Her doctor in Hawaii gave her one option:
hospice.
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