Submitted photo Today, 22-year-old Ty Cook of Struthers is cancer-free following a diagnosis in 2012.

STRUTHERS — As they sat in the waiting room with the bright, sterile lights shining down on them, a calm 13-year-old comforted his mother.

Young Ty Cook was waiting as his mom, Angela, was talking with a doctor about recent tests, which confirmed a brain tumor.

“My mom came out of the room, and I could tell she had been crying,” Cook, now 22, recalled.

“She said, ‘Ty. You have a mass in your brain.'”

Initially a little surprised, Ty said he told his mom it would be OK, and they would get through the upcoming battle.

“And then we went home,” he said.

Cook, of Struthers, now is studying nursing through Choffin Career and Technical Center in Youngstown. He graduated from Mahoning County Career and Technical Center and Struthers High School in 2017.

HIS JOURNEY

It was his journey that began in August 2012 that helped him decide he wants to be in the medical field. Cook began experiencing headaches and nausea just before his 14th birthday.

Batteries of tests conducted with various doctors showed Cook was in good health.

As the symptoms began progressing to the point he was getting dehydrated from vomiting, he was referred to Akron Children’s Hospital. A gastrointestinal doctor looked at Cook’s eyes, and noticed one was a little cloudy. He suggested an MRI after he took into consideration Cook’s height and weight were below average for his age, Cook said.

“Lo and behold, we found a whole different brain tumor,” Cook said, which was on the pituitary gland.

He was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, which mostly is seen in pediatric patients.

Cook explained that patients usually are born with it or it develops after birth and grows slowly over time.

The tumor, he said, oftentimes grows so large it presses on the skull and blocks spinal fluid, which creates pressure, leading to headaches.

His surgeon in Akron said if the tumor hadn’t been found, within two weeks there would have been nothing to do for Cook, he recalled. The surgery was in September 2012.

Afterward, Cook, who was left-handed up to that point, woke up one morning and found that the left side of his body didn’t function as it had before. He had to relearn to walk and use his right hand, he said.

Also, he endured six weeks of radiation and then a year-and-a-half of chemotherapy. As of now, he said he’s is cancer free.

FAMILY SUPPORT

Helping him get through the fight was family, which consists of parents Angela and Shawn, and older brothers Jake and Seth.

The Struthers community, as well as surrounding areas, showed support, too, Cook said.

A benefit dinner was held, with tickets selling out and strangers donating money at the door, he said.

Personally, Cook attributes his positive attitude with helping him get through surgery and treatment.

“Naturally my initial reaction was, ‘It is what it is and we’re going to do what we’ve got to do to get through it,’ ” Cook said. “That definitely helped a lot.”

Since the pandemic has halted everything, Cook has been trying to go to parks to explore and hike.

When he’s not in quarantine, as he explained he doesn’t have much of an immune system these days, Cook likes to try local restaurants.

His favorite food, however, is Japanese, and he enjoys trying different sushi.

He also leads a local support group at the Boardman campus of Akron Children’s Hospital, but hasn’t been doing so due to the pandemic.

Typically the group meets once a month. Information can be found by contacting the local campus’s oncology office.

For anyone facing a fight like his, Cook has something to say:

“Don’t sweat the small stuff,” he said. “There are always more important things to worry about.”