DonB次元官网网址檛 overestimate the power of an education.
Sixty-one-year-old Peter Rey, whoB次元官网网址檚 already defied the odds by surviving a grade 4 brain tumour, is set to cross the stage this week for his high school diploma.
It comes 45 years later than most, and it brings him to tears. Rey is set to cross the stage as one of 29 graduates at S.J. Willis Education Centre on Wednesday.
B次元官网网址淸Graduating] was one of my lifeB次元官网网址檚 regrets, I didnB次元官网网址檛 share it, kept it a secret,B次元官网网址� Rey said. B次元官网网址淲hen I dropped out it was another world. At the time we were going to change the world, or it would change for us.B次元官网网址�
Rey, who is as healthy as you can be with a 4.5 centimetre mass in your brain, is speaking out about brain tumours (heB次元官网网址檚 told his story at ) and the lack of a definitive cause.
The Saanich resident learned on June 23 last year that he had a serious brain tumour. Three weeks after that he was declared terminally ill with glioblastoma. Doctors told him the mortality rate for such a condition is 50 per cent in the first 18 months, up to 75 per cent by the second year and 97 per cent within three years.
So itB次元官网网址檚 with a heart full of acceptance that Rey drew up a bucket list that started with getting his high school certificate, and now heB次元官网网址檚 got it.
B次元官网网址淚t was without any inhibitions that I wrote a letter to the school districts here and in Vancouver, and the [SD61] board of education said, B次元官网网址榳eB次元官网网址檒l take care of this, we can do this for you,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Rey said. B次元官网网址淚 said hereB次元官网网址檚 my story, hereB次元官网网址檚 why I never finished, what IB次元官网网址檝e done with my life, and it all fell in to place.B次元官网网址�
Rey sat down with S.J. Willis Education Centre principal Jesse Bradbury and counsellor Kathryn Harcourt. They credited Rey with Grade 11 English, and four more courses based on his 40-year-work history as a dedicated employee with an HVAC wholesale company and, which Rey did until he got sick.
Prior to this time last year, life was healthy for Rey. The beginning of the end started on June 23, 2016. He was on his way to a bed and breakfast in Nanaimo with his wife and though he had ignored a couple small symptoms, he was otherwise healthy and unaware of the impending time bomb that was a massive brain tumour pushing against the top of his skull.
The only thing odd that happened ahead of June 23 was the dream-like continuation of a real conversation after it happened.
B次元官网网址淎fter a conversation I would continue to hear the personB次元官网网址檚 voice in my head, fictionally, and it when on for a week. I thought my subconscious had come to the fore, but I kept it to myself.B次元官网网址�
Once they reached the bed and breakfast, they tried to start the television and VCR, which was traditionally PeterB次元官网网址檚 area. This time, however, Rey was unable to orchestrate the VCR and television.
B次元官网网址淪he finally said B次元官网网址榳eB次元官网网址檙e not having a good time, letB次元官网网址檚 go home.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Rey recalled. B次元官网网址淎nd I said B次元官网网址榦kay,B次元官网网址� which shocked her, and she said sheB次元官网网址檒l drive, and that was a surprise, because I always drove.B次元官网网址�
During that drive, Rey kept mum on what he felt inside. Every five minutes he endured a splitting headache at the top centre of his head. The headaches grew progressively worse while his wife drove him straight to Victoria General Hospital. By the time they arrived Rey lost all consciousness. He let out a yell outside of emergency and immediately crashed onto the grassy out patch near the entrance, and broke into a grand mal seizure.
B次元官网网址淚 woke up at 3 or 4 in the morning trying to tear the tubes out but my wife calmed me down,B次元官网网址� Rey said.
After two CT scans and an MRI, the brain surgeon found a mass right up against the skull and did a biopsy, removing two thirds of it.
The oral chemotherapy Rey takes is about $1,000 per week (covered by MSP) and Rey has undergone 30 radiation treatments and 65 oral chemo treatments. HeB次元官网网址檚 currently on a break, and will have an MRI this week.
When Rey dropped out of VancouverB次元官网网址檚 Eric Hamber secondary in 1970, there were nearby party houses and a lot of places to hang out, and he was missing a lot of classes. But Rey was clever, heB次元官网网址檇 show up n test days and cram for 10 to 15 minutes, and heB次元官网网址檇 get by.
B次元官网网址淚 was told by teachers if I applied myself I would have done very well,B次元官网网址� Rey said. B次元官网网址淚 had a C average, but one day the vice principal called me in and said the [school district] was cracking down on attendance.B次元官网网址�
If you missed five classes from a subject you were reprimanded, 10 you were suspended and 15 youB次元官网网址檙e expelled, he was told.
B次元官网网址淲ell IB次元官网网址檇 missed 25 out of every subject, so they encouraged me to leave.B次元官网网址�
ItB次元官网网址檚 been nearly 30 years since Rey first thought about studying to night school to acquire his high school equivalency. And now heB次元官网网址檚 got it.
B次元官网网址淲hen I think about [getting the diploma], it puts me in tears. ItB次元官网网址檚 something IB次元官网网址檝e kept quiet all my life. You need it for most jobs, all jobs, and it really touches my heart now that IB次元官网网址檝e got it. ItB次元官网网址檚 something IB次元官网网址檝e wanted to do and now IB次元官网网址檓 proud and blessed to have it.B次元官网网址�
Next on ReyB次元官网网址檚 bucket list is a June 23 paddle in the Victoria Canoe and Kayak ClubB次元官网网址檚 voyageur boat up the Gorge Waterway with others suffering brain tumours. He also plans to go skydiving later this summer.
B次元官网网址淚 wonB次元官网网址檛 be scared [to skydive], just nervous because IB次元官网网址檒l be excited.B次元官网网址�
Despite the obvious change to his quality of life - Rey canB次元官网网址檛 see as well, hear as well, or sleep well as well as he used to, among other symptoms - the day-to-day changes are little, he says. And Rey, a devout Christian, is not scared.
B次元官网网址淚 plan to live the three-plus years I was given, and beyond that, or whenever the Lord wants to take me,B次元官网网址� Rey said.
reporter@saanichnews.com
