CROSS-COUNTRY

'This is not going to stop me'

FPC's Allen Roberson overcomes rare brain tumor, returns to running

Chris Boyle,Chris Boyle
chris.boyle@news-jrnl.com
Flagler Palm Coast senior Allen Roberson overcame six brain surgeries to remove a rare mixed germ cell brain tumor to return to running cross country. [NEWS-JOURNAL/Chris Boyle]

FLAGLER BEACH — Emerging from Wadsworth Park's wooded trail and heading toward a makeshift finish line crudely drawn in the dirt in between pine and palm trees, Allen Roberson saw the end in sight.

It was his third of four one-mile laps during Flagler Palm Coast's cross country practice on a recent warm early October afternoon. Feeling stronger on this day than he has in some time, the shirtless 17-year-old senior hustled the final 50 feet and waited to hear his time.

"Nine-17," assistant coach Sophia Clark called aloud.

Crouching down for a sip of water, Roberson received handshakes and fist bumps from several teammates. That 9-minute, 17-second mile was nearly 3 minutes faster than those he posted at the start of this season.

Compared to the fall of 2017, when he qualified for the Region 1-4A meet, he's about 3 minutes behind his race pace.

Accustomed to running at the front of the pack, he's now the last last male runner on the team to complete the practice lap. 

Still, Roberson and his teammates consider every mile to be a victory. Roberson's peers fully understand the extremes he went through just to return to running — a 15-month, life-threatening battle against a rare form of cancerous brain tumor.

Seeing double

One February morning in 2018, Roberson started to see double.

"I first noticed it when I woke up and saw two of my mom," Roberson said. "Then I headed to school where, in history class, I saw two (black)boards."

Before leaving the house for work, Lydia Roberson — Allen's mother and an exceptional student education (ESE) teacher at Taylor High School in Pierson — thought her son's double vision was simply a product of having just gotten out of bed. She made Allen a smoothie and instructed him to let her know if the issue persisted.

"The last thing I had in mind was anything being wrong," Lydia Roberson said. "His eyes looked normal, and I couldn't visualize anything different. I didn't think it was anything serious."

Instead, it got worse. In addition to seeing double, Roberson said he could not see his finger once he lifted it above his eyebrows.

On Feb. 19, Roberson went for a simple check-up at the nearby Wal-Mart Vision Center. Two days later, he was referred to see a specialist at Tomoka Eye Associates in Palm Coast. At the latter appointment, it was suggested that the double vision could be a symptom of multiple sclerosis.

As a short-term solution, Roberson wore an eye patch. Though he said he routinely tripped and fell because of it, Roberson still managed to compete in the Volusia/Flagler Freshman/Sophomore track and field championships, held in March 2018.

He set personal records in both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, with times of 5:02.45 and 11:27.21.

Two days after that meet, the Roberson family traveled to a children's hospital in Jacksonville. Allen underwent several hours of tests, where doctors and technicians made a startling discovery.

'They found something'

Lydia Roberson said she and her two older children — Lauren and Tyrell — were rerouted to the hospital's oncology and hematology wing. The severity of her son's situation had not yet dawned on her.

"I was so naive to the fact," she said. "I was wondering why they were sending us to that floor."

Around midnight, some 15 hours after arriving at the hospital, Roberson was reunited with his family and comforted despite an overflowing of tears.

"It really hit the soul," Roberson said. "I can't really describe what it felt like."

"They said, 'They found something.' "

Doctors found a mixed germ cell brain tumor growing in the pineal region of Roberson's brain. The pineal gland is responsible for the release of melatonin, a hormone most commonly known for its effects on sleep.

Two cysts were found within the tumor.

Germ cell brain tumors are extremely rare. According to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, they account for less than 5% of all brain tumors in children. As the name implies, the tumor arises from "germ cells" in the brain, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. 

Roberson was scheduled for a biopsy on March 12, 2018, where the tumor was found to have a mix of benign and malignant cells.

He began chemotherapy 11 days later, but it proved ineffective. The tumor continued to grow.

Between June 3 and June 9, 2018, Roberson underwent two separate surgical procedures to carefully remove the tumor, piece by piece. In total, Roberson required six sessions of brain surgery over 15 months, each lasting upwards of 12 hours.

The last of Roberson's surgeries occurred this past June. He was released from the hospital within three days, Mrs. Roberson said.

Besides the surgeries, her son endured six rounds chemotherapy and 40 radiation treatments.

Additionally, he endured roughly five months of physical therapy — each session lasting about 30 minutes, from February-July 2019 — just to get in walking shape, let alone competitive cross country condition. 

#ForAllen

Roberson was unable to attend school for almost the entire 2018-19 school year. Instead, he completed coursework through the Florida Department of Education's Hospital Homebound program.

Alex Giorgianni, a world history teacher at FPC and the school's assistant track and field coach, served as an in-home instructor for Roberson. Early on, Roberson could only handle an hour of studies per day — requiring five separate sessions during the week.

Some of the classes on Roberson's schedule, Giorgianni said, included English, anatomy/physiology, pre-calculus and advanced placement U.S. history.

"He's probably one of the most driven people I have ever met," Giorgianni said. "I asked if he was sure if he wanted to take those type of courses, but he wanted to push himself. He wants to make improvements every day and be back to who he was.

"I've had days where I would show up to his house, frustrated with how the day went, and he's there smiling, laughing and dancing around. It definitely puts things into perspective."

Roberson's FPC teammates and coaches kept him in their thoughts as well. They decided to wear black commemorative T-shirts with the words #ForAllen stripped at shoulder height across the back, above a large gray ribbon. Gray ribbons symbolize awareness for brain cancer, in the same way that pink ribbons do so for breast cancer.

Lydia Roberson also had gray rubber #ForAllen bracelets made for the team. FPC head coach David Halliday wore one on his right wrist during practice last week, as he does every day.

During Roberson's treatments, Halliday also joined Giorgianni on several hospital visits. He was astonished by Roberson's positivity in the face of adversity.

"The doctors, the therapists, wherever he's been, they're just like, 'How is this kid so upbeat?' " Halliday said. "They'd never seen anyone who would say, 'Let's go. It will be better in the end.' That's just how he was. He was that guy. And his sense of humor blew people away."

It's that same attitude that led Roberson to receive FPC's "Heart of a Champion" award at the season-ending cross country banquet in 2017, before he realized he had a brain tumor. In 2018, Halliday said the award was renamed in Roberson's honor.

"This year, who knows; maybe he'll get his own award back," Halliday said.

'I'm overworking myself'

Like most athletes entering their senior year of high school, Roberson has a list of goals he wishes to accomplish. Two seasons ago, Roberson would have envisioned competing at the state cross country championships in Tallahassee by the time his senior year started.

As a sophomore, he qualified for the regional meet, setting a 5-kilometer (3.1 mile) personal record on Oct. 28, 2017, with a time of 17:52.52 — good enough for 18th place in the meet.

Now, Roberson's sole focus is self-improvement. That comes in many forms.

As a corss country runner during his sophomore season in 2017, Roberson weighed an estimated 145 pounds. During his treatments, when he couldn't work out, his weight ballooned to 188 pounds. Now, due to a combination of improved eating habits and a return to normal physical activity, Roberson has lost 24 pounds from his highest weight, and now weighs 164 pounds.

Roberson aims to break 30 minutes in a competitive 5K before season's end. He is determined to finish every race in which he toes the starting line, which proved to be a big challenge at FPC's season-opening home meet — the Spikes and Spurs Classic, held at the Flagler County Fairgrounds — on Aug. 24.

"He'd probably only been running for about a month," Halliday said. "Of course, it's super hot and terribly gross for everybody. For him, the heat was really kind of bugging him.

"We just had to chop (the distance) up into little baby pieces. We had to find the happy medium."

Roberson finished the course that day with a time of 34:20, Halliday said. He's hasn't run a competitive race since then, but hopes to before the end of the season.

Beyond running, he is striving for excellence in the classroom. He plans to get his associate degree at Daytona State College after he finishes high school, and then intends to transfer to the University of North Florida. He said the life-changing experience he has endured has given him a new sense of purpose, and he wants to pursue a career in either pediatric oncology or pediatric physical therapy.

"This (a brain tumor) is not going to stop me; it's going to push me to my limit," Roberson said last week, pounding a picnic table for emphasis. "I'm not saying this rudely, but if anybody else went through this, I don't know if they would come out (of it) like me. I'm pushing myself in school, in cross country. I'm overworking myself."