A former cheerleader who survived a rare brain tumor and lost her mother to COVID-19 has revealed how these tragic experiences dramatically changed her outlook on life.
Victoria Vesce, 31, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was in her early 20s and dancing for the NBA‘s Charlotte Hornets when she began suffering from migraines, dizziness, vomiting and hearing problems.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com she said: ‘I just wasn’t feeling myself. I just remember symptoms just gradually coming on. It was a whirlwind. I remember looking at my dog and I’m like: “My dog’s going to live longer than me.” It was a surreal experience’.
After finally convincing doctors to carry out a scan, the former model was diagnosed with multiple paraganglioma – a rare brain-skull tumor that was wrapping around her nerves and spreading through her neck.
Vesce, who recently appeared on USA Network’s reality TV show The Anonymous, was forced to undergo radiation treatment and excruciatingly painful surgery where they removed part of her skull.
Then, just years after making a miraculous recovery, she was dealt another blow with the sudden death of her mother during the COVID-19 pandemic. She did not even get time to say a final goodbye.
Now she has shared how these dark times helped her realize that she needs to seize every opportunity because life is short.
Victoria Vesce, 31, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was in her early 20s, dancing for the NBA team the Charlotte Hornets when she started experiencing migraines, dizziness, vomiting, and problems hearing from her right ear
After finally convincing doctors to give her a scan, she was diagnosed with multiple paraganglioma, a rare brain-skull tumor that was wrapping around her nerves and spreading through her neck. ‘It was a surreal experience,’ she told DailyMail.com
‘I feel like before I was living life, I was living my best life, but I just really wasn’t pursuing all that I wanted to pursue,’ she told DailyMail.com.
The former dancer had been to the 2016 Rio Olympics with the Hornets, danced with The Honey Bees for three years, been a cheerleader for NHL team the Carolina Hurricanes and was working on applications to law school when her tumor forced her to slow down.
‘It was very humbling for me to go from on top of the world to literally just stuck in a bed where I’m having everyone having to help me,’ Vesce told DailyMail.com. ‘It just really brought me to a dark place, I was just thinking very dark thoughts.
‘I just remember during my healing journey – a lot of people don’t know, because it’s not something I share often – is that after surgery, I was extremely down bad. I was dealing with brain infections and cerebral spinal fluid leaking,’ she added.
‘It kept me almost confined to a bed for six weeks, and I could barely walk. I could barely eat. And I’m like: “Is this the life I want to live? I’m not really sure.”‘
She described how a pivotal moment for her at that time was lying in bed at Duke University Hospital and realizing she had never fulfilled her dream of traveling.
‘Laying on the hospital bed, telling my mom that thing [when] I could barely talk, but that’s the one thing that came out of my mouth,’ the now-travel blogger recalled to DailyMail.com.
‘I was like: “Mom, I just never got to travel the world, and that’s the one thing I regret if I like pass away in the middle of the night, like I really wanted to see the world and I’ve been fulfilling that [since].’
The former model – who recently appeared on USA Network’s The Anonymous – underwent radiation treatment and had an ‘excruciating surgery’ where they removed ‘most of my skull’
‘That pain broke through every medication possible and I was in pain for months,’ she recalled
But that experience – alongside losing her mom to COVID-19 in 2021 – has propelled her forward and made her realize she needed to ‘seize every opportunity that comes my way’
The first places Vesce visited after recovering were Spain and Italy as she had never been to Europe and wanted to experience the ‘culture, food, [and] people.’
The North Carolina native also went on to get her law degree from Charleston School of Law in South Carolina.
However, while she was taking a final exam, she learned her mom had died from COVID-19 in New York.
‘It’s honestly right there with my brain tumor, you know. It was almost like losing a part of my heart,’ she told DailyMail.com. ‘When my mom passed, I’d already lost part of my hearing, now I lost part of my heart.’
She said losing the person she considered to be her best friend left her asking God ‘what’s next?’ and pleading that she was ‘sick of these crazy twists and turns.’
‘I remember there’s plenty of times I would just be like: “What have I done to the universe for me to deserve this?” But I’ve just realized, you know, this is life. Life’s not fair, and I’m not someone who’s going to think pessimistic[ally],’ she added.
‘There’s so much more to do in this world. There’s so much more to see. So I try to make beauty out of the chaos in this world,’ Vesce said
A crucial moment for her was when she was lying in her hospital bed at Duke University Hospital and rolled over to her mom to tell her about she never got the chance to fulfill her dreams of traveling the world
From then on, Vesce started seizing every opportunity she could, including becoming a Sport Illustrated finalist to joining the cast of The Anonymous as a contestant.
The game show has players in real-life and anonymous modes and the goal is to work out which person is attached to each mysterious profile.
Vesce believes her background in law helped her work out a good strategy.
‘I played into the dumb role, [it] really helped me out. But it was very frustrating, because I have this like legal background in my back pocket that really did help me like propel far in the game,’ she told DailyMail.com.
‘I could just tell when people were just lying… I had a lot of tools at my back pocket, and I feel like the dumb card and my little dual lifestyle really played in my favor.’
Vesce described the moment she was voted out just before the finale and said it was incredibly upsetting not being able to say goodbye to her fellow contestants.
‘I just remember that moment, I was so wildly upset because it was very triggering to me, because I didn’t get to say goodbye to my mom,’ she told DailyMail.com.
‘And so, not being able to say the final goodbye to these friends I just made while filming for so long was heart-wrenching.’
During the show Vesce coupled up with fellow contestant Christopher Shulstad, earning the nickname ‘Vistopher.’ And while the pair split after filming, Vesce said she does not regret their time together.
‘It was a little bit of both [real and fake]. I am someone who wears my heart on my sleeve, and I fall pretty fast for someone,’ she told DailyMail.com.
‘I thought we connected, [but] then post-show some things just didn’t mesh, and [it] didn’t work out. And it that’s alright, because I found out like I’m better off single right now.’
From then on, Vesce started taking every opportunity she could, including becoming a Sport Illustrated finalist and being featured in the magazine, to joining the cast of The Anonymous as a contestant (pictured on The Anonymous)
Vesce believes her ‘Hannah Montana’ lifestyle helped get her close to the finale, even though she only joined the game in episode four.
‘Obviously, there’s that really showy part of me. There’s the Instagram. There’s a model, she wears these outfits, she goes out like all of that. But then there’s the other side of me where my intellect takes over and a lot of people just dismiss that.’
She joined the show in the hopes of winning the $100,000 prize so she could take her father and older brother on vacation.
Despite being voted off, Vesce said she is determined to pursue her dream of getting a show similar to Duck Dynasty off the ground that would feature her family’s log business – a feat they attempted to do before her mother passed.
She now encourages others to follow their dreams and never pass up a good opportunity.
‘Just go for what you want and you never know what [will] happen,’ she said. ‘There’s so much more to do in this world. There’s so much more to see. So I try to make beauty out of the chaos in this world.’
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