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Dad, 43, was picture of good health. Then glioblastoma brain cancer struck

Thousands of Americans will get the same diagnosis this year.
Eric South shares a happy moment with his wife and two sons. "Normal is going to be different than before," he said after his glioblastoma diagnosis.
Eric South shares a happy moment with his wife and two sons. "Normal is going to be different than before," he said after his glioblastoma diagnosis.Courtesy Eric South
/ Source: TODAY

At 43, Eric South was in the best shape he’d been in 20 years. He was working out and eating right to prepare for a golf trip. An active dad of two young boys, he always enjoyed good health and only saw his physician during his annual checkup.

Then in February of 2021, he experienced a headache he couldn’t ignore. The pain started in the front of his skull, spread all the way to the back and down the left side of his neck.

“To say it got my attention is an understatement because I don't go to the doctor and I went to the doctor for this one,” South, who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, told TODAY.

"I've never had surgery. I don’t have any allergies. I don't take any medication," South said of his health before his diagnosis. "I do my annual physical every year and that's really the only time I ever see the doctor."
"I've never had surgery. I don’t have any allergies. I don't take any medication," South said of his health before his diagnosis. "I do my annual physical every year and that's really the only time I ever see the doctor."Courtesy Eric South

The initial diagnosis: a tension headache. But more troubling symptoms quickly appeared. South noticed weakness and tingling in his left hand to the point where he couldn’t hold a glass. A facial spasm twice briefly affected the left side of his face, which “started to freak me out a little bit,” he recalled. That side later also became droopy.

Within a week of the mysterious headache, South had an MRI of the brain and was sitting across from a neurosurgeon who broke the news: He had a tumor on his right frontal lobe — which controls muscles on the left side of the body — and it was pushing his entire brain over to the left side.

Surgery followed days later at Ascension Saint Thomas West Hospital in Nashville. Doctors made an opening in South’s skull and removed as much of the tumor as they could — 99.9% of everything they could see. Afterwards, his left hand functioned normally again and the facial droop disappeared. “My neurosurgeon was a superhero,” South said.

South underwent a craniotomy to remove as much of the brain tumor as possible in February.
South underwent a craniotomy to remove as much of the brain tumor as possible in February.Courtesy Eric South

The official diagnosis: stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer that can affect anyone, at any age, and comes with a grim prognosis. About 12,000 cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, according to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The same disease took the life of Sen. John McCain and Beau Biden, son of President Joe Biden.

Most glioblastomas seem to occur randomly and are hard to treat because they grow tentacles into the brain, which are impossible to remove. They're also resistant to conventional therapy. Patients can die within months without treatment.

“I understood what it meant. I didn't go through a lot of the ‘Why me?’ or ‘How did this happen?’ because I asked my neurosurgeon, ‘How do you get this?’ And he just flat out said, ‘We don't know,’” South recalled.

“I just told everybody (in my family), don't go Googling this… I need to be positive and I need inspiration.”

After he recovered from surgery, he and his wife went into action mode to decide what’s next. There’s no cure for glioblastoma and the standard treatment protocol still comes with a poor survival rate. South wanted to take part in a clinical trial that would offer other options and found one at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Starting in April 2021, he received chemotherapy in pill form, plus radiation to his head, every day, five days a week, for six weeks — a brutal regimen that left him feeling “like an old man,” he said, especially after the radiation.

South hugs his sons. The treatment for glioblastoma left him feeling like "an old man," so he's focused on building up his strength.
South hugs his sons. The treatment for glioblastoma left him feeling like "an old man," so he's focused on building up his strength.Courtesy Eric South

South’s brain MRI at the end of that treatment was clear and he continued to fly back to Texas every 60 days for scans. He had to pay for that travel out of his own pocket, just as he did for the six-week stay in Houston for the clinical trial.

He and his wife were taken aback by how little funding there is for glioblastoma research and how little information there is for patients to navigate the system, so he launched the Gladiator Project, an organization to help others “fight like gladiators.”

The project was partially named after a brain food shake made by a local eatery and dubbed “the Gladiator,” which South’s doctor recommended he make at home. The smoothie contains dark leafy greens, berries, protein powder and MCT oil. South drinks it every day. He’s also eliminated added sugar from his diet and exercises every day.

Life was not back to normal, he said, but he was able to shoot hoops and throw a baseball with his sons, who are 6 and 8 years old, and go on long walks with his wife. He was on leave from his job as a manager.

When TODAY reached him for an update in the spring of 2022, South said he finished chemotherapy last November and has had monthly MRI scans since.

"I actually continue to feel great, which is a stark contrast to how I was feeling before surgery last year. I'm walking 4-5 miles each day and still eating a diet of super foods to support brain health," he noted.

In April, South underwent surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to remove tumor progression at the original tumor site and is now enrolled in a "cutting edge" vaccine and immunotherapy trial at UCLA, he said. It involves developing a personalized vaccine using his tumor cells and white blood cells. Some patients will also receive an immunotherapy drug.

"The trial is testing whether the immunotherapy drug will boost the vaccine to perform more strongly, allowing my body to fight and hopefully kill the cancer cells," he explained.

A few weeks before the surgery and clinical trial, South and his wife, Leslie, renewed their wedding vows in Florence, Italy. He called her "my rock."

South and his wife, Leslie, renewed their wedding vows in Florence, Italy, in April 2022.
South and his wife, Leslie, renewed their wedding vows in Florence, Italy, in April 2022.Courtesy Jamie Lee Wedding Photography/Jamie in Italy (JamieInItaly.com)

The Gladiator Project takes up much of his time, with a fundraising event planned for June. The charity has raised almost $150,000 so far, he said. "Until we find a cure, this mission will continue," South noted.