Treating a Brain Tumor in Louisville, KY

Treating a Brain Tumor

Eric Chen, MD, Neurosurgery
Baptist Health Louisville
Joshua ‘Jay’ Cresap, Shelbyville, Kentucky

Eric Chen, MD:
At Baptist, we have the ability to provide a complete, comprehensive brain tumor treatment. We have the ability to perform difficult and technically challenging surgeries and follow that up with chemotherapy, radiation, enrollment in clinical trials, and very importantly, we have the ability to help that patient through a long and arduous recovery process. Jay came into the hospital with a seizure. Once he got to the emergency room, we were able to scan his head with CT scans and MRIs, and it was apparent to us that he had a brain tumor after that workup.

Jay Cresap:
They wanted to get that out as soon as possible. Three or four days later, I was in brain surgery. The doctor came back and said, "The tumor was cancerous. Here's what we're going to do." The best thing for me was I was here.

Eric Chen, MD:
The location of Jay's tumor was essentially in the supplemental motor area. By resecting the tumor, there's a chance that you can damage the primary motor cortex, which would lead to paralysis on a part of the side of his body. I talked to him about doing a surgery where we would employ several different types of technology and techniques to ensure that we removed just the tumor, nothing more than the tumor, and nothing less than all of the tumor.

Jay Cresap:
From there, I knocked out 30 days radiation, 30 days chemo, came in for another MRI, and the cancer was gone. Here we are today — six, seven months later — walking and talking. My first day here, I couldn't touch my fingers together. It's been a wild ride.

Eric Chen, MD:
I feel very privileged that I can use my skills and training to provide service to people like Jay and make a really important impact on their lives.