“You have to keep moving forward to maintain hope.”

When Michael Permack was 29 years old, his future looked bright. Back in 1993, Michael was married and had two young daughters, aged 1 and 3. He had an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and a successful career in commercial real estate.

But one day as he was driving to a business meeting with a colleague, Michael noticed he couldn’t talk. He continued to the meeting, but felt that something wasn’t right. “I started feeling really bad. I took a cab alone to the hospital and vomited at the reception desk. At first, they thought I was on drugs.”

When his wife Francine arrived at the hospital, Michael couldn’t even remember her name. Routine tests showed nothing, so Francine insisted on an MRI, which revealed a tumour in Michael’s brain.

Although it was benign, the tumour had the potential to grow quickly. Doctors recommended not to operate or have radiation treatments at the time of his diagnosis because it was benign. They told Michael his survival rate was one or two years. “I stopped working so that I could spend as much time with my wife and kids as I could… I bought into what the doctors told me about life expectancy.”

Initially, Michael was devastated. He and Francine had always hoped for a family of three children. But with Michael’s prognosis, they put those plans away among other dreams.  Then Michael spoke to a psychologist who told him that he had two choices: to act as if he was going to die or to act as if he was going to live. “I chose life,” says Michael “and decided to make a 180 degree turn in how I was going to live my life”.

Three years after his diagnosis, Michael and Francine fulfilled one of their family’s dreams when Peter, their third child, was born.

In 2002, the family received bad news. Francine was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy. “She had an amazing attitude that she was going to live life fully no matter what.” Fortunately, Francine is now clear of cancer.

Then in 2004, Michael had a “really bad” seizure, the first in 11 years since his diagnosis. An MRI showed that his tumour had become malignant. Surgery removed only 30% of the tumour to protect his quality of life. “They took out as much as they could,” he explains. Radiation and chemotherapy treatments (Temodal) soon followed.

By June 2005, another MRI showed that the rest of the tumour appeared to be gone. By September, Michael was back at work. “I am so fortunate that I did a 180 and chose life. You have to keep moving forward to maintain hope”.

Today, Michael is coach of his son’s hockey team. The 44-year-old also volunteers as soccer coach and with the Canadian Cancer Society. An avid golfer, Michael has a new goal; he’s planning a charity golf tournament to raise money for brain tumour research.