In early 2020, as the world dealt with the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, 26-year-old Elman Mirzaei faced even more uncertainty.

He woke up one morning to two paramedics looking over him, after his girlfriend (now-wife), Esther, noticed him having a seizure in his sleep and called for help. Elman didn’t recall it happening.

“It wasn’t until I got into the ambulance and it started driving away that I realized, ‘I really did have a seizure,’” Elman says.

From seizures to surgery

In the hospital, while they were transferring him from one bed to another, Elman had another seizure. This time, it was so intense that his body broke through the drywall.

“That’s when they realized they had to move fast,” Elman says, adding the pressure to get him in and out of the hospital because of the pandemic also helped the process move quickly.

A CT scan revealed a mass that doctors thought was a cyst. Elman was then brought in for an MRI, and was seen afterward by a resident doctor who gave him some unsettling news.

He was told he had a tumour that needed to be operated on. The resident doctor then told Elman, with his dad listening in on speakerphone, that his prognosis was five to 10 years, something Elman later learned to be false.

The next morning, Elman’s neurosurgeon assured him the prognosis wasn’t as bleak as initially mentioned by the resident, and Elman’s tumour was what he called the “best-case scenario”—a slow-growing, grade two astrocytoma that was operable. Just three days later, Elman underwent a successful surgery to remove the tumour in its entirety.

A new beginning and another hurdle

Elman spent two months in recovery before returning to life as he knew it—only now, with a fresh perspective and exciting opportunities, life was even better than before.

“I got married, adopted cats, and landed my dream job at Shopify, running high-stakes marketing campaigns for top brands and celebrities,” Elman says. “I travelled the world and pushed myself to new heights. Skiing became my sanctuary during the pandemic, each run down the mountain a reminder that I was still here, fighting, and living on my terms.”

Life took another unexpected turn, though. Elman had been in New York City for his friend Dougall’s bachelor party—an epic weekend he looks back very fondly on. After nearly missing his MRI due to a cancelled flight, he argued with the airline to fit him in. He got on the next flight, with the last available seat, and made it just in time for the scan in Ottawa. A week later, the results came in. His tumour had returned.

“A lot of the doctors told me, ‘Live like you have your whole life ahead of you,’” Elman says. “‘You could have 10, 20, 30 more years until the tumour comes back.’ And then, to have it come back three years later, it really changed my perspective.”

Elman was forced to cancel a wedding anniversary trip to Greece, instead undergoing a second brain surgery. Afterwards, he had concurrent chemotherapy and radiation, followed by 12 additional months of chemotherapy.

He chose to channel his uncertainty into something meaningful. During recovery, Elman launched TheSlopeAdvisor.com, a platform to share his passion for skiing in Eastern Canada with the world.

“It became an outlet for joy, purpose and community when I needed it most,” Elman says.

Focusing on the future

Now, six months after completing chemotherapy, Elman is looking ahead.

“I’m focused on building my marketing consulting business, working with clients across various industries, and committing to the entrepreneurial path,” Elman says.

He’s also keeping active through running and basketball, while planning his next travel itinerary. Counting Iceland, Denmark, Japan and Dallas as the most recent spots he’s visited, he’s finally taking that long-awaited trip to Greece.

“I don’t know when the next recurrence might come, but this journey has taught me life is too short to hold back on what truly matters. For me, that means doing what I love as much as possible, while spending time with the people I love most—my wife, my parents, my sister, and all my friends and family who have supported me through this wild journey.”

Spreading hope

Elman will be in good company at this year’s Ottawa Brain Tumour Walk, as the Ottawa Brain Tumour Walk ambassador and a volunteer Brain Tumour Walk committee member.

“One of the biggest challenges for me, as a brain tumour patient, is people not getting it,” Elman says. “It’s so nice to be around other brain tumour patients who just get it. It’s also nice to feel like you’re making a difference, being able to support others and being able to support the cause.”

Something Elman stresses to others on their own brain tumour journeys is that they’re never alone, and there’s always hope.

“When my brain tumour was first diagnosed, hope was the belief that I could recover and return to a normal life,” Elman says. “When it came back, hope became the strength to endure another surgery, radiation, and a year of chemotherapy, knowing there was still a future ahead of me. Hope, to me, is having something that drives you forward—whether it’s building a business, skiing fresh lines, or simply believing that there are great things ahead.”