The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Boy’s tumor led to his path as a man
Former college pitcher now serves the team of his childhood surgeon.
Kevin Eaise was trying to catch a fly ball at a Little League allstar baseball game when he suddenly saw two balls in the air.
He was 10 years old at the time, and he decided his double vision was because of his contact lenses, he said.
“I thought something was wrong with the contacts, so I kept taking them out and washing them,” Eaise said, recalling that July 2010 day in Monroeville, New Jersey.
His parents took him to see an ophthalmologist, who noticed something unusual in his optic nerves. He went to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 30 minutes away, for an MRI scan of his head. The results were terrifying: He had a brain tumor and needed surgery right away.
“I remember being scared whether I’d be able to see normally again and play baseball,” said Eaise, now 24. “When you’re a kid, you just want to get back to playing.”
He got the operation quickly, and it was a success. Eaise was back to running bases and throwing fastballs one week later.
His surgeon, Phillip B. Storm, chief of neurosurgery and codirector of the hospital’s Neuroscience Center, said the tumor on Eaise’s brain stem had blocked the flow of spinal fluid — a condition called obstructive hydrocephalus. It can be fatal if left untreated.
Storm used a tiny camera to see inside Eaise’s brain and reroute the fluid, but he didn’t remove the tumor, which was benign.
“In this age group, this particular kind of tumor will usually stop growing,” Storm said. “It was the pressure building up in Kevin’s head from the fluid that was making him sick.”
After the surgery, Eaise and his family stayed in touch with Storm. Eaise went on to play baseball for the University of Pennsylvania from 2019 to 2022, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was in a post-baccalaureate program in 2023. Storm attended a few of the games, and the two would meet for lunch now and then.
“As I grew older, I became more thankful for what Dr. Storm had done for me when I was 10,” said Eaise, who was named the 2022 Ivy League pitcher of the year. “I realized how lucky I was that everything had worked out so well.”
Now, 14 years after his surgery, Eaise is back at the same hospital, this time as a clinical research assistant working alongside the same doctor who made it possible for him to resume an active life.
Eaise, who was hired by the hospital last summer, talks to Storm’s pediatric patients and their parents to ask for permission for the patients’ tumor tissue to be studied at the hospital’s research institute. He explains the hospital’s mission to find better ways to treat brain tumors, and he also transfers samples from the operating room to the lab.
“Kevin has a calm demeanor, and he’s great with the families because he can relate to what they’re going through,” said Storm, who is 55.
“They see this good-looking, strapping baseball player and they feel better, knowing he’s doing well in life,” he said. “Kevin brings a lot of hope and confidence to kids and parents going through a stressful time.”
Eaise graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in health care markets and finance. His minor was neuroscience. He wants to pursue a medical career and has applied to several medical schools. He is starting to hear back from them, he said.
“I don’t know exactly what I want to do yet, but I’m definitely interested in the brain,” Eaise said. “And I would really like to work in pediatrics.”
Eaise’s parents, Kevin and Debbie Eaise, started a family foundation after his surgery to help fund research for innovative treatments of brain tumors — the deadliest form of childhood cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Eaise Family Foundation has raised almost $1 million so far, Kevin Eaise said.
“My parents did a good job of making me realize that I was one of the lucky ones,” he said.
His research job has helped confirm that he’s on the right career path, he said. Last November, he traveled to Delaware with Storm to share his story at Storm’s former prep school, Archmere Academy.
“I’m really happy that I connected with him when I was young, even though it was an unfortunate circumstance at the time,” Eaise said. “Making a difference with him now at the hospital where I was a patient means a lot.”
Storm said he, too, is awed at his former patient’s path.
“Kevin went from thinking he might need glasses to needing brain surgery,” he said. “I’m humbled and inspired every day that he wanted to join us.”