When Josh Hollm was 6 years old, an eye doctor dilated his eyes, took one look, and sent him to Connecticut Children’s Emergency Department. The diagnosis: a brain tumor, noncancerous. It was putting dangerous pressure on his brain.
Josh’s parents, Ruth and Bob, had known something was wrong — it’s why they brought Josh to the eye doctor in the first place, looking for an answer to his recent bouts of vomiting.
But they hadn’t expected this.
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Perhaps most important to Ruth and Bob: Connecticut Children’s neurosurgery division, led by Jonathan Martin, MD, FAANS, have successfully performed hundreds of pediatric brain surgeries. (Last year alone, they did more than 250 surgeries.) That includes safely removing some of the most challenging brain and spinal cord tumors in pediatric neuro-oncology.
Ruth and Bob waited, breathless, while this team delicately cut the tumor out of Josh’s brain.
“It was eight and a half hours of surgery for this tiny little boy with this ginormous tumor in the back of his head,” says Ruth. “I can’t even imagine how we got through that. But we did. And he did.”
"He didn't want to leave!"
The brain has trillions of neural connections, and it takes time for them to recover after a tumor has been removed from their midst. The location of the tumor matters too: Josh’s had been in the lower back of his brain, close to the region that controls voluntary movement. For weeks after surgery, his entire left side was paralyzed. He couldn’t walk for two months.
“I remember being wheeled around the hospital in a wagon to see someone dressed as Elmo,” says Josh, now age 26. “My mom and the nurses had to prop me up with pillows because I couldn’t sit up on my own.”
For a once-active 6-year-old, it could’ve been a dark time. But the team that surrounded Josh never let him doubt his ability to recover. For the next six weeks in the hospital, and then many months after that, physical therapists helped Josh learn how to stand and walk and write again. Previously a leftie, he even built up fine motor skills in his right hand with the help of an occupational therapist, compensating for the loss of fine motor skills on his left side.
“The nurses, the assistant nurses, the doctors all made us feel like everything was going to be OK,” says Ruth.
Josh’s memories of that time are remarkably sunny too. “When people ask me about Connecticut Children’s, this is what I tell them: My son loved it so much, he didn’t want to leave!” says Ruth. “It became our home for a little while.”
"It helps me persevere"
Josh’s body doesn’t absorb fluid properly from his brain, so a few months after his tumor was removed, the neurosurgery team placed a shunt in his brain to do it for him. That procedure, and a few subsequent ones to clean or correct the device, were minor compared to the first surgery. Still, by the time Josh was a teen, it meant he’d technically had multiple brain surgeries. Rather than making him more cautious, it made him more resilient.
“Josh has always been like, ‘I don’t care what bad things may have happened to me. Nothing’s gonna hold me back,’” says Ruth.
By high school, he’d taken up playing the trumpet and wanted to join the marching band — an activity that demands a great deal of physical endurance. When Ruth and Bob worried it would be too much, Josh was adamant: “I’m doing it,” he told them. “All the things I’ve been through, all the experiences I’ve gotten out of it, it helps me persevere.”
He went on to compete in four years of high school marching band, then four years in college. His band mates became like family. They even helped Josh and Ruth launch an annual RockaTHON event at the high school, a HuskyTHON-inspired fundraiser. In five years, they raised almost $15,000 for Connecticut Children’s.
It was eight and a half hours of surgery for this tiny little boy with this ginormous tumor in the back of his head. I can’t even imagine how we got through that. But we did. And he did.
Ruth, Josh's Mom
“Do what you love”
Today, at 26 years old, Josh has been through six brain surgeries with Connecticut Children’s neurosurgery team — most recently, about six months ago — plus scoliosis surgery as a teenager with Mark Lee, MD, division head of orthopedics.
These experiences have been the key to more than just his physical well-being. They’ve proven he’s capable of anything — and his biggest dreams are never beyond imagination.
That includes his dream of acting, which prompted a move last year from Connecticut to Los Angeles. It meant leaving behind everything familiar and comfortable to start over in a new place, with new challenges.
He never doubted his decision to go for it.
“Marching band, moving across the country — these are things I love that other people weren’t sure I would be able to do. I have to have that mentality of ‘I’m just gonna do it anyway,’” Josh says. “My health experiences at Connecticut Children’s had that impact on my life. They’ve shaped me into who I am.”
Today, in LA, his career is building. He’s worked for several major studios, and received a callback for the latest “Ghostbusters” film. Recently, waiting for a flight in LAX airport, a fellow traveler recognized him from a favorite project, a YouTube film with a message about supporting peers who are dealing with health issues. It was a special kind of validation.
“You need to do what you love, or at least try,” says Josh. “That’s what I believe most of all. No matter what you go through, medically and otherwise, you can always do what you love.”
