Seven years ago, Tina Singler had no idea that her life was going to be upturned by a rare and aggressive form of cancer. One August morning, she got her children to their first day of school, then headed to work at the Colerain, Ohio, beauty salon she’s owned for 14 years, Shagz A Salon.
Later that day, she had a midday eye exam scheduled. Tina was searching for a treatment to fix her right eye, which had been irritated and watery for several months. She took a break from wearing contact lenses on the advice of her optometrist, but the symptoms continued. She was referred to a dry eye specialist who said the problem likely stemmed from heavy eyelids, and Tina may need surgical correction.
Tina decided to see Jeffrey A. Nerad, MD, an ophthalmologist at Cincinnati Eye Institute specializing in eyelid, cosmetic and reconstructive facial plastic surgery.
“Dr. Nerad said I needed to immediately get a CT scan and come back the next day with the films in hand,” said Tina. “It didn’t concern me at the time because I’d seen so many doctors, and this was just another step to fixing the eye issues.”
Dr. Nerad brought Tina back into his office and delivered the news that would forever change her life — the CT scans revealed a brain tumor.
He referred Tina to Yash J. Patil, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, director of the Adult Airway Reconstruction Program and a UC Health physician. Dr. Patil performed Tina’s biopsy. It came back as sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma, a rare cancer of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses.
Only about 2,000 people are diagnosed with SNUC in the U.S. each year. Sinus and nasal cancers are rare, and SNUC is a subgroup of an already uncommon tumor.
“There is no known cause or prevention for this cancer. The reality is that several cancers are caused by random chance. A bad mutation happened, and the cell was able to invade the immune system. In Tina’s case, that’s what we determined,” said William Barrett, MD, co-director of the UC Cancer Center and professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the UC College of Medicine.
“Tina’s tumor was very infiltrative. The tumor had grown through the bone of her skull and was pushing against her brain. If it had been found later, it would have invaded her brain, and that’s rarely curable.”
SNUC is usually treated by surgically removing the tumor. Still, Dr. Barrett explained that the location of Tina’s tumor was in such a delicate area that he didn’t believe surgery would be satisfactory. An adequate cancer surgery involves removing the tumor and surrounding tissue to get rid of the remnants of cancerous cells. But SNUC is too close to vital tissue, like the brain, cranial nerves, eyes and the optical nerves.
The UC Cancer Center is one of the first centers to treat SNUC without surgery. Instead, a unique multi-modal therapy approach was applied.
Tina was treated with a nonsurgical combination of chemotherapy and radiology. She underwent 35 rounds of radiation and every three weeks had chemotherapy, including infusions and seven days’ worth of chemotherapy pills to take at home.
“It’s a lot to go through as a patient, but Tina was able to work her way through it all,” said Dr. Barrett.
An outpouring of support helped keep Tina going. “We had to buy an answering machine because of the number of calls from family and friends. I’m blessed to have so many caring people on my team,” said Tina.
After seven weeks of radiation and chemotherapy, Dr. Barrett ordered Tina’s CT, MRI and PET scans to see the extent of the tumor and if it had spread anywhere else. Fortunately, this wasn’t the case.
According to Dr. Barrett, “Tina continued to be monitored with regular exams and imaging, and thankfully, her scans are clear. At this point, she’s far enough out that it’s highly likely she’s considered cured of cancer.”
Tina could not say enough about her doctors and treatment. “Dr. Barrett is the most amazing human being,” said Tina. “Before my first radiation treatment, he popped down to make sure I was OK. I told him if he couldn’t promise me that I’d get through this, then I don’t want all the treatments. I said someday my kids were going to get married, and I needed to be there. Dr. Barrett said, ‘Tina, you will.’”
Tina was joyfully present as her eldest daughter, Cati, got married. Recently, Cati gave birth to a baby boy, Tina’s first grandchild. His name is Barrett, in honor of Dr. Barrett. ϖ
“We did not pick this journey, we didn’t have a plan for this, but it couldn’t have unfolded more perfectly. God led us to miracle workers at UC Health,”
~ Tina Singler
For more information about The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, visit uchealth.com/cancer or call 513-475-8000.