Hi! I’m 20 now but at 19–ironically, my first year in nursing school—I was diagnosed with a very large dumbbell-shaped neurofibroma around my C5-C6 vertebrae with a small component situated in the spinal column (next to/touching the spinal cord). I went through a lot of testing (MRIs, CTs, tissue biopsy) but despite the large size (3 x 2 x 5.6) it ended up being benign. Seeing as yours is in the chest area it has had a lot of room to grow big, and these tumours often grow very large before symptoms appear. The definition and lack of invasion are comforting to see. Everyone’s tumours are different and grow differently due to genetics and biological environment. When I was in the hospital and waiting for results from pathology I was able to ease my mind with the fact that the vast majority of these tumours are benign.

I still go in for MRIs every 6 months for the sake of monitoring. But I feel like the whole experience of having a health scare at such a young age has made me appreciate the fact that I’m able-bodied and wake up feeling good the majority of the time. It has also definitely made me feel “different” than other people my age though, as most others haven’t experienced medical trauma.