Former Kansas City Chiefs Cheerleader Survives Life-threatening Tumor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Allison Peters
Phone: 708-216-6140
allison.peters@luhs.org

MAYWOOD, IL — In one of the nation’s longest and most successful surgical partnerships, Loyola Medicine Otologic Surgeon John Leonetti, MD, and Neurosurgeon Douglas Anderson, MD, have worked together to remove more than 2,000 acoustic neuromas over nearly four decades. They recently had the opportunity to reunite with Shanna Adamic, author of “Audacious Optimism,” executive leader at Oracle and one of the hundreds of patients who have traveled from across the country to seek their expertise.

After nearly a decade of cheering for the Kansas City Chiefs, Shanna Adamic, 44, of suburban Kansas City began losing hearing in her right ear. Throughout the next six years, as her symptoms worsened, Shanna sought answers, engaging more than 100 times with specialists, physicians, and emergency rooms. "Every single time I went to the doctor, I was misdiagnosed, underdiagnosed, or even dismissed as a tired overworked mom," said Adamic. "I felt crazy and I started to believe that there was nothing wrong with me."

While some suggested the hearing loss resulted from cheering in one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL, a 2017 MRI revealed a 4.5-centimeter acoustic neuroma. An acoustic neuroma, or vestibular schwannoma, is rare, occurring in about one in 100,000 people per year. It is a tumor located in the inner ear that grows inward toward the brain. Like most acoustic neuromas, Shanna’s tumor was benign, but because of its location and size, roughly the size of a golf ball, it was life-threatening.

"When I received my diagnosis, the doctor referred to it as a ticking time bomb," said 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?"

Her doctor told her she needed a special surgery that he was not qualified to perform. Anxious for help, she took to social media where she reconnected with an old college friend, Amy Pittman, MD, an otolaryngologist at Loyola. Pittman shared her story with her colleagues, Dr. Anderson, and Dr. Leonetti. Days later, Adamic traveled to Loyola Medicine’s renowned Center for Cranial Base Surgery to meet them. The surgeons assured her they could remove the majority of her tumor in a single surgery, a treatment plan she had not heard anywhere else.

"Over the past 37 years working together, we've operated on more than 2,000 tumors like Shanna's," said Dr. Anderson. "We learn more with every patient we have, each one makes the next challenging case easier because we learn from all the others.

"I remember Dr. Anderson reassuring me 'You’re going to go to sleep and wake up and get your life back,'" said Adamic. "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."

In January 2018, Dr. Anderson and Dr. Leonetti performed a 13-hour surgery, removing 99% of Adamic's tumor. She woke up still unable to hear out of her right ear and with partial facial weakness on the right side. She was unable to chew or close her right eye but was determined to have a full recovery. Through physical therapy and perseverance, Adamic has made a near-full recovery with her most recent MRI showing no tumor regrowth and she credits the physicians at Loyola with saving her life.

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

"My husband and I walked out of that initial meeting and we knew right away that we were going to leave behind our support system at home to come to Loyola to get the care that I needed because it would be the best care for me," said Adamic. "There's not one day that goes by that I don't feel fortunate that I made that decision."

Adamic recently returned to Loyola to thank Dr. Anderson and Dr. Leonetti who she credits for saving her life. Watch the reunion here: 

Over the past 35 years, Loyola Medicine's Skull Base Center has treated over 3,000 patients with a variety of tumors in the head and neck, utilizing the expertise of many surgeons in neurosurgery and otolaryngology. Patients come from around the world due to the surgeons' safe and often complete tumor removal and because more than 90% of patients have normal or near normal postoperative facial function. This team of doctors has great experience in managing Acoustic Neuromas and other tumors ensuring our continued commitment to the exceptional care of these patients for decades to come.