After being dealt a life-altering diagnosis in May 2018, Ian Phillips realized he had two options: sulk over the news or move forward with a positive attitude.
Phillips chose the latter, remaining upbeat nearly six years later and enjoying a productive life while battling Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) syndrome, which can cause tumors to grow in the eyes, brain, spine, kidneys, pancreas and adrenal glands.
Phillips’ disease was detected on his final day of sixth grade. He had been squinting excessively, and his parents thought he might need glasses. But upon examination, multiple tumors were detected behind his left eye. As the result of multiple surgeries over the next two years, he’s now blind in that eye.
None of that, or other VHL issues that followed, has stopped him from pursuing his passion for hockey. Phillips, a senior forward for Gahanna Lincoln, has been playing since the second grade, and he wants to make a career of covering the sport as a journalist.
“When (the diagnosis) happened, I knew there were two ways in looking at it,” Phillips said. “It’s feeling sorry for yourself or only worrying about the things that you can control. It’s gotten harder in the past couple of years, but I think I’ve done a pretty good job of managing it because I was a pretty positive kid.”
On the ice, he learned how to adapt.
“I had to pick my head up a lot more and be cautious going to the right side of the ice since I didn’t have vision in my left eye,” he said.
VHL requires continuous care
Another tumor was detected in Phillips’ upper spine, just under his brain, in December 2021. However, doctors opted to forgo surgery because of its location.
“It’s a very invasive surgery in the spot where the tumor is,” he said. “If I end up going the surgery route then I might not be able to play hockey again. It’s a bunch of complications for the future.”
The tumors are considered benign, but Phillips must undergo full-body MRIs every three months to monitor his health.
“The tumors are not cancerous, but they’re dangerous,” he said. “Some of them can do unexpected things. It’s one of those diseases where you just have to monitor it. If anything comes up, you have to catch it early because it could spread and could grow pretty fast.”
Doctors check his blood regularly. He takes a chemotherapy medication and has an eye drop that helps keep his left eye “as healthy as possible,” said his mother, Sarah.
“He’s monitored very…
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