Name
Sunita Gupta

Brain Tumor Type
Craniopharyngioma

Date of Diagnosis
1985

Participant Group
Brain Tumor Survivor / 21 and over

Category
Jewelry & Textiles

Artist Statement (include type of art, techniques & materials used, what it means to you)
The moment I completed surgery, I had a very strong urge to use my hands – especially while watching TV. I knit, draw, bead and do scrapbooking.

I’ve submitted a beaded pendant made of delica beads – these are tiny beads that run about 19 per inch wide. This piece measures 1½ inches by ½ inch at the widest point. This seems small but the pendant has over 1,000 beads in it.

I wanted to show how my life has gone from a long time of darkness to finally finding light – and hope for a better life. The bottom of this bead is mostly black and the top ends with a pearl – representing the beauty if hope to see in life.

Artist Bio: Tell Us Your Story
I was treated for craniopharyngioma in 1985. That’s back in the dark ages. It took over year of vomiting, craving water, not having my period and having intense headaches to get diagnosed. Plus weight gain. Along the way a doctor misdiagnosed it as a tropical disease. He put me on a corticosteroid that resulted in me gaining 50 pounds in about 14 weeks. I felt disfigured, untreated and not understood by my family. In 2005 I was finally diagnosed. My family’s attitude was “Let’s do the treatment so you can get to work.” My insurance was about to run out and so I needed a job to get new insurance.

I had surgery and radiation treatment, then found a job. One year later I was driving and got hit by a drunk driver. I was unconscious in a hospital for 2 days. The doctor recommended I take 6 weeks off work and just relax. But my family felt I should go back to work right away.

Since then, I’ve felt intense anger towards the doctor who put me on the corticosteroid, frustration that I wasn’t attractive enough to date anymore, and frustration that my family thought all was well. I withdrew from people (though thank goodness my close friends stuck with me), was too outspoken at work, and distrusted all doctors. I live in a small city with a so-so hospital, but finally a good endocrinologist came (just last year), and I’m getting better care.

I finally found Robert A Wood Foundation and attended a support group. It was amazing to meet others who had the same brain tumor. Hope, finally. I plan to attend the conference and learn more.