{"id":24646,"date":"2025-02-03T10:53:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T17:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=24646"},"modified":"2025-02-10T08:22:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T15:22:19","slug":"brain-cancer-survivor-lives-every-day-like-there-is-a-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/brain-cancer-survivor-lives-every-day-like-there-is-a-tomorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"Brain cancer survivor lives every day like there is a tomorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Todd
Todd Danielson has a passion for performing arts. A diagnosis of brain cancer helped him realize how supportive that community can be. Photo by Willie Peterson, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s a saying in show business \u2013 the show must go on.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what happens, be it technical difficulties, wardrobe malfunctions or the creator\/writer\/producer\/actor of the show is diagnosed with brain cancer, the show continues as planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was surreal,\u201d Todd Danielson said. \u201cHere we are in rehearsals for the show, then five or six days after the show, I\u2019m having brain surgery to remove a tumor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talk about a plot twist.<\/p>\n

Brain cancer survivor has always been at home on the stage<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Danielson, 51, found his place in community theater in Steamboat Springs, Colo., nearly 20 years ago. He and his wife, Jennifer Hussey, had just had their first daughter, Harper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got involved with Pirate Theatre,\u201d said Danielson. \u201cIt was funny, silly stuff that we wrote ourselves that poked fun at people in town, where we live, the ski culture, current issues. It was less serious and a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

He ended up writing for Pirate Theatre for 10 years, producing nine full-length musical plays and packing a local ballroom for each performance. Because of the amount of intense work required for each show \u2013 each with a new script and musical score, Danielson and a friend tossed around the idea of a sketch comedy show in hopes of being able to pull together something more regularly.<\/p>\n

Thus, the Super Fun Steamboat Show was born, a mix of Saturday Night Live and vaudeville that features sketch comedy, improv skits, a kazoo orchestra, costume contests, audience games and video shorts, as well as musical and dancing performances.<\/p>\n

During preparations for the February 2017 show, which happened to feature a sketch to the Gloria Gaynor song, \u201cI Will Survive,\u201d Danielson\u2019s life abruptly had its script rewritten.<\/p>\n

\"Todd
Todd Danielson with his wife and daughters, Finley and Harper. Photo courtesy Todd Danielson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The plot thickens: Brain cancer diagnosis both physical and emotional<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Danielson had parked his car and was walking through the alley behind the Chief Theater in downtown Steamboat Springs to watch a series of one-act plays in which some friends were performing.<\/p>\n

\u201cColors got really crisp for a minute, and the next thing I knew, someone was waking me up in an ambulance,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

A friend came upon an unconscious Danielson and thinking he\u2019d slipped and fallen on the ice, called 911.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was out with girlfriends when I got the call saying Todd was being taken to the emergency room,\u201d said Hussey. \u201cI actually beat the ambulance there. Todd was trying to shake it off, but thank goodness the paramedics were insistent on getting him to the ER to be checked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This
A CT scan revealed a 60.5mm tumor on the right frontal lobe of Danielson’s brain. Image courtesy UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hussey said that Danielson didn\u2019t have any bruises or scratches, or a bump on his head from falling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt never once entered our mind that it could have been something other than a fall, let alone a seizure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Laila Powers<\/a>, an emergency medicine physician at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center<\/a>, evaluated Danielson and ordered a CT.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Powers came in, turned the monitor around and nothing needed to be said,\u201d said Hussey. \u201cThere was a large mass in the right frontal lobe of his brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was quiet for a little bit,\u201d said Danielson. \u201cFirst it was denial \u2013 \u2018this has to be wrong.\u2019 Then it was frightening as the uncertainty and reality of the situation set in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danielson was admitted overnight and the next day, Dr. Brian Harrington<\/a>, a family medicine physician in Steamboat Springs who was providing hospitalist<\/a> coverage over the weekend, had the \u201cwhat to expect\u201d chat with Danielson, Hussey and their two girls, Harper and Finley.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had told the girls that Dad fell and had to stay overnight to make sure he was ok,\u201d said Hussey. \u201cDr. Harrington recommended being honest with our daughters. But in our conversations, when the words \u2018brain cancer\u2019 and \u2018brain tumor\u2019 were said, Harper turned her back to all of us and started crying, and Finley repeated several times that she didn\u2019t understand what all this meant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Ok, this is what we have to do. What\u2019s the next step?\u2019\u201d Danielson recalled. \u201cThere was nothing I could do about it. It was going to be what it was going to be. Whatever they say I need to do, I\u2019ll do. I knew it was important for me to keep my same positive outlook regardless of what I was facing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporting cast: Ensuring the best treatment plan with a consistent health care team\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Danielson was admitted to UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a> the next day for testing and was ultimately diagnosed with Grade II Oligodendroglioma<\/a>, commonly referred to as brain cancer.<\/p>\n

\"This
Danielson had brain surgery at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Hussey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI went into research mode and put out feelers to anyone who had ties to the medical field,\u201d said Hussey. \u201cWith it being an academic hospital, I felt confident that they were up on the latest treatment technology and studies. That made me extremely comfortable with Todd being at UCHealth and with their neurology department.\u201d<\/p>\n

A neurosurgeon successfully resected the majority of the tumor.<\/p>\n

Following surgery, Dr. Denise Damek<\/a>, a neuro-oncologist, and Dr. Chad Rusthoven<\/a>, a radiation oncologist, used a tag-team approach as Danielson went through seven weeks of daily chemotherapy and radiation. For the next year after that, it was five days of chemo followed by a 23-day break.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose to stay with UCHealth and keep his team together,\u201d said Hussey. \u201cWe were so pleased with everyone and didn\u2019t want to shake things up. We were willing to continue making the three-hour drive and manage the logistics of Todd and I being in Denver during treatment while our kids remained in Steamboat with family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew as long as I survived brain surgery, I could manage the radiation and chemo,\u201d said Danielson. \u201cIt became a thing I did every day for a while. It wore me down pretty good. I lost my hair, but it came back and it wasn\u2019t gray anymore. But I don\u2019t pass that around \u2013 I don\u2019t recommend this as a treatment plan for gray hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tight-knit community helped him get through treatment for brain cancer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Danielson said each month of his 17-month treatment got a little easier instead of worse. It was during that time that he realized something.<\/p>\n

\"This
Cast members decided donations from the February 2017 Super Fun Steamboat Show would benefit Danielson. Image courtesy Super Fun Steamboat Show Facebook page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou think people care, and then you go through something like this and you really see and feel how much they care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Take that February 2017 Super Fun Steamboat Show. It happened a week after Danielson was diagnosed and five days before he was scheduled for brain surgery. The cast and crew made it a free show and gave Danielson’s family the donations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe approached that show as, \u2018Whatever\u2019s going to happen is going to happen.\u2019 We were committed to doing the best show we could and if that was my last one, we would know we gave it our best shot,\u201d said Danielson. \u201cI was blown away by the support. The subsequent Super Fun Steamboat Show were free and donations benefitted a different local cause each show.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the March 2017 “STD\u201d show to \u201cSave Todd Danielson,\u201d Danielson was roasted, along with cancer in general, from his vantage point in the front row of the audience. He returned to writing and being on stage in the next show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny, when we were in appointments before the surgery, Todd\u2019s only question was, \u2018Will I lose any of my creativity?\u2019\u201d said Hussey. \u201cIt\u2019s who he is. Todd never wavered during any of this and continued to maintain a positive attitude. He never once asked about a prognosis because regardless of what was said, it wasn\u2019t going to impact how he lives his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life with brain cancer: Sharing the stage<\/strong><\/h2>\n