\u201cIt feels incredible. What started as a journal and thoughts on paper, is now a full book. I started writing a book to stay busy and distracted. My family and friends encouraged me to write a book out of my journaling, so I did. It took me a full year and a half!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still going through treatments,\u201d Gasteyer shares. \u201cBut the book has helped me reclaim my life. I am going on with my life, and pursuing my passions.\u201d<\/p>\n Gasteyer shares that the type of brain tumor he has can end up being a chronic disease.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people with it live for decades. I expect that I am not going to be fully healthy, as we don\u2019t know the full prognosis.\u201d<\/p>\n But this medical student\u2019s dream of becoming a doctor someday soon continues, and it started way back in high school.<\/p>\n \u201cI always loved biology, and helping people,\u201d he says. \u201cMy friend in high school had cancer and unfortunately passed away. Also, my aunt had cancer, and she battled a recurrence of non-Hodkin\u2019s lymphoma too, but did well thanks to a newly available CAR-T Cell treatment that cured her.<\/p>\n He adds, \u201cBoth of their journeys have inspired me to pursue a career in medicine,\u201d along with Gasteyer\u2019s own personal experience of a cancer diagnosis that began during COVID in 2020 when he found himself once again wanting to become a doctor.<\/p>\n \u201cI now want to help people like me!\u201d<\/p>\n Gasteyer\u2019s symptoms started during COVID.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt dizziness, loss of balance, and began waking up every day with a headache. On family walks that we started during COVID, I had to begin thinking about taking one step after another.\u201d<\/p>\n Gasteyer knew something wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n \u201cI finally went to the doctor. He thought it might be vertigo, but since I was getting consistent headaches he sent me for an MRI just in case it might be a brain tumor,\u201d he says. \u201cThank God he did!\u201d<\/p>\n In August of 2020, when an undergraduate at UConn Storrs, about to start his junior year, the MRI results in Boston at Mass General Hospital showed a golf ball size tumor that looked like it had a spider web extending from it. It was diagnosed as a low-grade 2 astrocytoma brain tumor.<\/p>\n Gasteyer spent 9 days in the hospital to remove part of his skull, C1 vertebra, and part of the tumor located on the back of his brain\u2019s cerebellum. After surgery, 6 weeks of radiation occurred and chemotherapy started.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been a Husky for a long while now,\u201d he happily shares. Gasteyer was grateful to be able to finish his UConn Storrs undergraduate degree, take the MCAT exam to apply and successfully be accepted to UConn medical school\u2019s Class of 2026, and finish two of the four years of medical school so far.<\/p>\n \u201cI am so glad that I kept on going with my life and went to medical school,\u201d he says all while on chemo treatments to keep his cancerous tumor\u2019s growth at bay.<\/p>\n \u201cMedical school knowledge helped me better understand my own medical appointments and brain scans better,\u201d says Gasteyer. \u201cBut what we also learned about in medical school with cancer is that it can be unpredictable, even if you do everything perfectly! It was a challenge sitting in class knowing I might not have the same lifetime as my medical school classmates. But I did know that I wanted to help and treat patients!\u201d<\/p>\n Gasteyer\u2019s biggest advice to others that may find themselves battling a cancer diagnosis: \u201cFind something outside of yourself to fight for. Enjoy the people in your life. My motivation has been my family and friends. They believe things are going to turn out well for me.\u201d<\/p>\n In recent months, Gasteyer reports having lost a bit more balance and using a walker. \u201cWhile I don\u2019t feel good right now, it\u2019s still so important to my family, especially my parents, that I stay involved and see my family and friends. Force yourself to say yes to everything social that you can. You will be glad you did.\u201d<\/p>\n He is remaining very hopeful, and currently receiving targeted therapy infusions once every two weeks, while also exploring experimental injections of an exploratory and promising new, immune system vaccine available in Germany. His Germany treatments are all thanks to a Go Fund Me.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSince Thanksgiving I\u2019ve traveled to Germany for nine vaccine doses so far,\u201d he says and they are definitely \u201cgiving me more energy. It\u2019s pretty cool. The hope is that the vaccine is working to train my own immune system\u2019s T-cells to fight off my cancer using my body\u2019s boosted own defense system, with very little side-effects.\u201d<\/p>\n Gasteyer is still on medical leave from medical school for now. But his last MRI showed the tumor has shrunk. His next scan is in a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n He is comforted by the \u201cendless support\u201d he says he received from his fellow Huskies.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of my UConn and UConn medical school classmates have reached out to me to check on me, and spread word about my new book, and contribute to the Go Fund Me for my vaccine treatments in Germany. I have a lot of thanks for my classmates.\u201d<\/p>\n He concludes, \u201cHuskies are amazing!\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Ethan](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Copy-of-light-blur-1500x1000-8-1024x683.png\")