Liberty Professor Shares The Lessons He Learned Through Brain Tumor

Life is full of surprises, both joyful and foreboding. For this Liberty professor, one of his came 30 years ago this spring, when he received a brain tumor diagnosis at the age of 24.

Dr. Donald Alban, a Liberty University professor of Digital Media and Journalism, had graduated from college a couple of years earlier and been working at the time as a live-in youth counselor at a home for troubled boys in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A skin irritation led him to see a dermatologist who observed during the visit that Alban had symptoms of a rare disorder called acromegaly that the doctor said affects one in 20,000 people. 

The dermatologist explained that acromegaly is a condition in which a benign tumor on the pituitary gland significantly elevates human growth hormone (HGH) levels. Left untreated, the condition can lead to life-shortening complications. Persons who develop the tumor earlier in life often experience excessive growth and height. In any case of acromegaly, the doctor explained, the condition can produce other symptoms, such as visual impairments, a deepening voice, and an overdevelopment of facial and other bones and of vital bodily systems. 

The doctor observed several of these symptoms in Alban. Left untreated, he explained, the condition could cause symptoms to become worse and could significantly shorten the patient’s life. 

“I didn’t take it very seriously,” Alban said of his diagnosis. “I was a typical 24-year-old and thought I was invincible. I never thought anything could happen to me. So, I blew it off.”

That changed, however, when Alban passively mentioned the doctor’s remarks to his mother, a seasoned registered nurse, during a phone conversation. She urged him to see an endocrinologist as soon as possible. Mainly to honor her request, Alban admits, he scheduled an appointment with an endocrinologist. 

Sure enough, after conducting some tests, the endocrinologist found Alban’s HGH levels to be seven times higher than they should have been and referred him for treatment to Penn State University’s nearby Milton Hershey Medical Center, in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Less than two months after the diagnosis, he underwent a six-hour surgery in June 1991 to remove the tumor.

This unexpected health crisis raised questions in Alban’s mind about his plans for the future, including his plan to head off to law school at Regent University a couple of months later.

“Lord, I want to go out into the culture and impact people’s lives for the glory of God. Why did you allow this to happen to me?”   Alban said.

During the 10-day hospitalization, Alban spent lots of time trying to make sense of this question. He found early insight from an unexpected source when one of his friends, not knowing about his inner faith crisis, hung a poster with an unfamiliar Bible passage on the wall of his hospital room, words from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. He looked at it frequently, as well as James 1:1-8, which he recalled studying in Bible college, as he tried to make sense of his situation. 

Alban remembered a moment during the hospitalization when he realized that people, in the end, have two options when faced by crises. 

“The first option is to shake your fist angrily at the heavens and to question God’s goodness for allowing this to happen, but this inevitably leads only to hopelessness and despair,” Alban said. “The better option, I realized, is to trust in God’s goodness and to hold onto the hope that God, because he is good, is creating something beautiful through the crisis, even when darkness abounds and hope seems to fade.” 

Even though armed with this assurance, Alban said, his road to restored health proved to be longer and bumpier than he expected and it would continue, at times, to challenge his faith. Believing God wanted him to move forward with his education, he moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, and enrolled in law school. During his first year of study, his doctors determined that Alban’s HGH levels, although lower, were still three times higher than they should have been. 

After several unsuccessful attempts to bring this condition under control through medications, Alban underwent six weeks of targeted radiation. This brought his levels lower, but they still were high enough to require additional treatment—a last resort medication that would require him to give himself three injections per day. 

This medication, however, would have cost Alban $25,000 per year—much more than he could afford. Without insurance, he was not in a position to afford treatment anyway, so he chose to let it go and to trust God to meet his needs for the time being. 

As his interests evolved, Alban decided to switch from Regent’s law school to its journalism program, graduated and got a reporting job at a daily newspaper in southern West Virginia. A year later, he moved to Wheaton, Illinois, to become the editor of Power for Living, an inspirational weekly magazine with a quarter-million readers. Alban would hold this position for 15 years, directing the publication of more than 800 weekly issues of the magazine.

Shortly after the move, a colleague made him aware of a patient assistant program that might cover the medication he needed. Alban applied to the program and was approved for coverage, finally gaining access to the medication that he needed four years after his surgery. Several years later, in 1999, a monthly version of the shot became available. Alban remained on the monthly medication until 2012 when his doctor, while reviewing lab work, announced to him that the radiation, after 20 years, had finally had its effect and that his HGH counts were now within the normal range. Long at last, the recovery was complete.

Recalling his long road to restored health, Alban recalls the promises of Ecclesiastes 3:11—that God makes all things beautiful in his time–and Romans 8:28–that God works all things together for the good of those who love him. 

“It’s not always easy to remember these promises when you’re on the long road to recovery,” Alban said.

Knowing the temptation to doubt would be ever-present, Alban decided years ago, as he pondered the verses on the hospital room wall, to prepare for it by creating a list of more than two dozen specific ways in which God’s goodness and provision had proven to be present during his health crisis. Decades later, with recovery behind him, Alban still reviews this list on occasion, as a reminder of God’s perfect way and trustworthy promises. 

Alban has found over the years that the experience of battling a brain tumor and its effects gave him a perspective that has enabled him to help people who are going through similar circumstances. He has drawn from his experience on multiple occasions, sharing his perspective with Liberty students who face similar hardships, offering them advice and comfort.

Married since 2001, Alban and his wife, Vangie, a Liberty University Online instructor, continue to impart this wisdom not only to their students, but also to their four children as they navigate life’s challenges. When one of their daughters struggled several years ago with an eating disorder that required months of residential treatment, the Albans drew continued hope and strength in the same biblical promises as she recovered.  

“We go through these valleys, and if we respond to them with a God-focused perspective and a God-centered motive, God can help us reach out to other people who are struggling with the same things,” Alban said. 

Alban’s biggest takeaway from his journey with acromegaly centers around God’s sovereignty over the plans of man. 

“When you’re young, you look at life, you have your goals, your ambitions, and it’s a good thing to have those,” Alban said. “You step forward in faith that God is calling you to go in that direction. But it’s important to remember, at all times and in all circumstances, as Proverbs 16:9 puts it, that although a man devises his way, the Lord directs his steps.”

Renee Farmer is a Feature Reporter. Follow her on Twitter at @reneefarmerr.