About
My name is Mark Miller and I am a singer/songwriter originally from Orange County, CA and now residing in the Sacramento, CA area. I am a father, husband, son and brother and in December, 2006 my life was forever changed when I was diagnosed with a primary brain tumor – a grade 3 malignant glioma. I had surgery to remove the tumor in June of 2007 after tracking what we believed to be a low-grade tumor or stroke at the time but we ended up only performing a biopsy because of the location of this tumor (on the right-frontal motor cortex which affects motor function on the left side of my body). I followed this surgery up with 5 weeks of radiation and 6 months of chemotherapy. The “standard of care” treatment as it were was completed in June of 2008 and we moved into a tracking mode.
In October of 2008, after tracking this tumor via MRI every 60 days and all scans showing a stable situation, the tumor had doubled in size and transformed to a grade 4 GBM, or glioblastoma multiforme, the most malignant type of primary brain tumor. There are many treatment options available, including what I refer to as mainstream. However, I believe you have to pursue experimental, phase I/II trials if one is to get ahead of the problem.
I had surgery in October and then another recurrence in February of 2009 and we opted to deal with this growth using a technique called Gamma Knife surgery in March. I started using experimental treatment called DCVax in April, 2009 – 10 months. Unfortunately, I slowly lost function in my left hand and arm by December, 2009 and can no longer play the keys. In February, 2010, a second tumor was found in the same area and a second GammaKnife was conducted quickly thereafter.
In terms of my overall story, I will provide you with an introduction to my story here. You can learn a lot more about my journey and about my music throughout my blog It contains information about my songwriting, music and what may be my last bit of writing due to neurological deficits in my left arm and hand. You can also sample tracks from the album, “River of Faith”, my musical bio, my studio and other pertinent information. This site has a dual purpose. It covers both my musical pursuits but more importantly it is an account of my journey as a brain tumor survivor and a resource for other brain tumor survivors. If you are visiting and are also a brain tumor survivor, you will find a lot of information here that is a direct result of hours of research on my part. I hope that you will benefit.
I was born and raised in Orange County, California (Huntington Beach). I spent all of my life in Southern California up until early 2006 at which time I moved to Sacramento, California with my wife Rachael and then 4 year old son Aidan. Since then we have another son in our family, Keegan.
When I was younger, I had a standing gig at Le Meridien Hotel, a 5 star hotel, in Newport Beach, California for several years. I would set up my DX-7, a mic, amp and pull up a Yamaha grand and go through pretty much a set of original songs I had written and play acoustic piano pieces I had composed. I was young and all of the material was my own but I auditioned for the ED after a chance encounter and he really liked my stuff – so far so good! It was a fun gig but playing around in a french hotel for 4 hours a night got a bit much after a few years. However, I really developed my chops there and was very grateful for that opportunity. Playing for a few years, several nights a week for 4 or so hours plus on my own and becoming involved in a side band is where I really started to become much more accomplished.
From that point I started playing in bands, gigged around Orange County and enjoyed some reasonable success as we evolved over time into a tighter band with a nice set of original songs. We played some larger venues in OC and Los Angeles – we played some great venues such as The Whiskey, The Troubadour, Madame Wongs and many others. The band really started doing pretty well but things fell apart. It was there and happening and then seemed to disintegrate. At this point I had to make some choices. Do you stay on this circuit striving to be an artist, getting home at 3am every night and taking some diversions that many of us take at points in our lives when growing up?! Well, my interest in the club-scene really waned and I focused my attention and energy on songwriting as well as pursuing a mainstream bread and butter career in the IT world. You could say I hedged my bets. I’m now an IT executive so that part is solidified but this is my passion in life – always has been and always will be but I’ve stuck with my music as well.
Fast forward to today – I have been playing music for 25+ years and reside in Rocklin, California with my wife Rachael and sons Aidan and Keegan. My home is equipped with a home studio that handles everything I need to produce high quality recordings. Please take a look at the My Studio page here on my blog for details regarding my studio environment. I am a songwriter and studio musician through and through at this point in my life. The days of playing live, for me, have long since past. I could see doing this again at some point but I am a production guy – I love putting together the entire tapestry from soup to nuts and you can listen to the finished productions of some of my work to hear the results – its a labor of love as it is for many of us who write and share this passion. I have also put together a Storytellers area that provides the “backstory” of each song on the River of Faith album for those interested in that detail.
I have collaborated from time to time with other musicians, mostly when I lived in Orange County, but today I basically play the role of songwriter, producer, engineer, mixing and mastering engineer. I wouldn’t recommend this approach if you can avoid it! I do enjoy the challenge and the tedious work involved in producing music in the studio. Today, my primary focus is on placing songs with established artists as well as in the TV/Film market. I tap several firms, one of which is in the UK to open doors and help accomplish this. I am a member of BMI and the Songwriter’s Guild of America.
Brain Tumor Diagnosis
Digressing to this topic, In late 2006 I experienced some odd symptoms that caught my attention – mainly some tingling in my left-hand that radiated into my forearm. I called my doctor and he said it was probably nothing but scheduled the appointment for the following Tuesday (this was a Wednesday I believe). The very next day I had what I now have learned was a focal seizure. The left side of my face just went numb and the left side of my mouth completely “drooped” for lack of a better term. I was in my car at the time so I drove to an ER which wasn’t far away – I figured this was a TIA or stroke or some other issue. CT Scans and other studies at the ER were negative but an MRI wasn’t performed that night. After a trip to my doctor, he ordered an MRI and that turned up an abnormality which was tracked. I was diagnosed with a primary brain tumor in May of 2007 after 5 months of diagnostics. After running my data by Harvard and UCSF for 2nd and 3rd opinions, I opted to have surgery (what is called a craniotomy) in June of 2007 and the pathology revealed that my tumor was what was then a grade 3 oligoastrocytoma which is a highly malignant brain tumor. Brain tumors are measured on what is called a WHO scale of 1-4. To sprinkle in some drama, our son Keegan was born by emergency C-Section on July 13th, 2007. I actually drove Rachael to the hospital at midnight 2 weeks post-op. Keegan was born around 10am and as they were quietly resting I went and performed my Radiation Simulation that afternoon out of necessity because I had to get started with my treatment plan ASAP. You can’t write this stuff!
I followed surgery with radiation therapy and chemotherapy. My blog chronicles the journey, consolidates my research and ultimately is my way of providing others with hope and a sense of what to expect if you are faced with this in your life – at least that is what I am striving to do in part with the blog. Suffice it to say, when you are told that you have a brain tumor, you are thrust into a strange new land through which you have no understanding how to navigate. It is daunting. I’d like to give back via this blog based on what I have found thus far in my journey. One area of the site where I am compiling my research is the research library. This area contains various documents and templates that I have used to aid in my treatment. There have been many people that have downloaded these documents – many in the 1,000s. My intention is to continue building up the resource.
Having a primary brain tumor is not a death sentence and it doesn’t need to be regardless of what so-called “statistics” say (in fact, if you have a brain tumor and are mired in stats, read my post “The Median Isn’t The Message.”) Being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor lends a new perspective on life – not that you didn’t appreciate the things in life that were important before, such as family, friends and the like, but it shows you how precious life can be and how insignificant other so-called “problems” in life really are. What I always remember is that I have cancer but cancer doesn’t have me. What I also tell myself each and every day is that the tasks that lie ahead of me are never greater than the power behind me. Are there ups and downs – absolutely. I have some days and times when I feel totally depressed about this. I look at my children, how young they are, my wife and her potential future and have cried over this thing. I have gotten angry at God. These are normal things to do. But in the end, even if I don’t understand it all, I have to trust and do trust and have faith that God has a plan for me and my family. And Hebrews 11:1 defines faith for us. When something like this happens to you, you do ask questions like “why me?” In time, however, you say to yourself “why not me?” I was walking into the Sutter Neuroscience Institute one day and heading up the elevator to see my Neuro-Oncologist and there was a young boy about my son Aidan’s age (6) with his mother. He had a croche cap on, was losing his eye lashes, eye brows and all of his blond hair. “Why him?” I asked myself. I’ve lived a life 7x longer than this boy. Why? Incomprehensible situations happen in our world that we just can’t understand but for me, I give it up – I give it up to God. I have no other choice. If I carry these burdens on my shoulders, they’ll push me to the ground.
I believe we can fight. Even though the fight may be hard and there are ups and downs, we can make the ups outweigh the downs, significantly if we most imporantly pull God into the middle of it and turn over our burdens to Him and b) surround ourselves with a strong support system designed for success. Or, one can choose to crumble. But why? Perhaps one reason is carrying everything around on our own shoulders until we do.
I always enjoy talking to anyone about the craft of songwriting or other areas of interest including those of you who are brain tumor survivors and wish to network. Feel free to contact me using the form below.
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