A former cheerleader who survived a rare brain tumor and lost her mother to COVID-19 has revealed how these tragic experiences dramatically changed her perspective on life.
Victoria Vesce, 31, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was in her early 20s and dancing for the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets when she began suffering from migraines, dizziness, vomiting and hearing problems.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, she said: ‘I just didn’t feel like myself. I only remember that the symptoms appeared gradually. It was a whirlwind. I remember looking at my dog and thinking, “My dog is going to live longer than me.” It was a surreal experience.’
After finally convincing doctors to perform a scan, the former model was diagnosed with multiple paraganglioma, a rare brain-skull tumor that wrapped around her nerves and spread down her neck.
Vesce, who recently appeared on the USA Network reality show The Anonymous, was forced to undergo radiation treatment and excruciatingly painful surgery in which part of her skull was removed.
Then, just a few years after making a miraculous recovery, he was dealt another blow with the sudden death of his mother during the COVID-19 pandemic. He didn’t even have time to say goodbye definitively.
Now she has shared how these dark times helped her realize that she needs to take advantage of every opportunity because life is short.
Victoria Vesce, 31, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was in her early 20s and dancing for the NBA team, the Charlotte Hornets, when she began experiencing migraines, dizziness, vomiting and trouble hearing in her right ear. .
After finally convincing doctors to do a scan, she was diagnosed with multiple paraganglioma, a rare brain-skull tumor that wrapped around her nerves and spread down her neck. “It was a surreal experience,” he told DailyMail.com.
“I feel like before I was living life, I was living my best life, but I wasn’t really going after everything I wanted,” she told DailyMail.com.
The former dancer had been to the 2016 Rio Olympics with the Hornets, danced with The Honey Bees for three years, was a cheerleader for the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team and was working on law school applications when her tumor forced her to reduce the pace.
“It was very humiliating for me to go from the top of the world to being literally trapped in a bed where everyone has to help me,” Vesce told DailyMail.com. ‘It really took me to a dark place, I was having very dark thoughts.
‘The one thing I remember during my healing journey (many people don’t know this, because it’s not something I share often) is that after surgery, I felt extremely depressed. “I was dealing with brain infections and cerebrospinal fluid leak,” he added.
‘He kept me almost confined to a bed for six weeks and I could barely walk. I could barely eat. And I say, “Is this the life I want to live? I’m not really sure.”
She described how a pivotal moment for her at the time was lying in bed at Duke University Hospital and realizing that she had never fulfilled her dream of traveling.
“Lying in the hospital bed, saying that to my mom (when) I could barely speak, but that was the only thing that came out of my mouth,” the now travel blogger recalled to DailyMail.com.
“I was like, ‘Mom, I never got to travel the world, and that’s the only thing I regret if I like passing away in the middle of the night, like I really wanted to see the world and I’d been following through on that.'” (from)’
The former model, who recently appeared on USA Network’s The Anonymous, underwent radiation treatment and “excruciating surgery” in which “most of her skull” was removed.
“That pain overwhelmed all possible medications and I was suffering for months,” he recalled.
But that experience, along with losing her mother to COVID-19 in 2021, propelled her forward and made her realize that she needed to “take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way.”
The first places Vesce visited after recovering were Spain and Italy, as he had never been to Europe and wanted to experience “the culture, the food (and) the people.”
The North Carolina native also earned her law degree from Charleston College of Law in South Carolina.
However, while taking a final exam, he learned that his mother had died from COVID-19 in New York.
‘Honestly, it’s right there with my brain tumor, you know? “It was almost like losing a part of my heart,” he told DailyMail.com. ‘When my mom passed away, I had already lost part of my hearing, now I lost part of my heart.’
She said losing the person she considered her best friend left her asking God “what’s next?” and claiming that she was “tired of these crazy twists and turns.”
‘I remember many times asking myself: “What have I done to the universe to deserve this?” But I just realized, you know, that’s life. “Life is not fair and I am not someone who is going to think pessimistically,” he added.
‘There is much more to do in this world. There is much more to see. So I try to make beauty out of the chaos of this world,” Vesce said.
A pivotal moment for her was when she was lying in her hospital bed at Duke University Hospital and approached her mother to tell her that she never had the opportunity to fulfill her dream of traveling the world.
From then on, Vesce began taking advantage of every opportunity he could, from becoming a Sport Illustrated finalist to joining the cast of The Anonymous as a contestant.
The game show has players in anonymous and real-life modes and the goal is to discover which person is linked to each mystery profile.
Vesce believes her legal background helped her craft a good strategy.
‘I played the fool, (that) really helped me. But it was very frustrating, because I have legal experience in my back pocket that really helped me advance far in the game,” he told DailyMail.com.
“I could tell when people were just lying…I had a lot of tools in my back pocket, and I feel like the dumb card and my little dual lifestyle really worked in my favor.”
Vesce described the moment she was eliminated just before the final and said it was incredibly upsetting to not be able to say goodbye to her fellow contestants.
“I just remember that moment, I was incredibly upset because it was very triggering for me, because I couldn’t say goodbye to my mom,” she told DailyMail.com.
“And so, not being able to say a final goodbye to these friends that I just made while filming for so long was heartbreaking.”
During the show, Vesce teamed up with fellow contestant Christopher Shulstad, earning the nickname ‘Vistopher’. And although the couple split after filming, Vesce said he has no regrets about the time they spent together.
‘It was a bit of both (real and fake). “I’m someone who wears my heart on my sleeve and I fall in love with someone pretty quickly,” he told DailyMail.com.
‘I thought we were connected, (but) after the show, some things just didn’t click and it didn’t work out. And that’s okay, because I discovered that I’m better off being single right now.’
From then on, Vesce began taking advantage of every opportunity he could, from becoming a Sport Illustrated finalist and appearing in the magazine to joining the cast of The Anonymous as a contestant (pictured by The Anonymous).
Vesce believes her ‘Hannah Montana’ lifestyle helped her get closer to the end, even though she only joined the game in episode four.
‘Obviously, there’s a really striking part of me. There’s Instagram. There’s a model, she wears these outfits, she comes out like this. But then there’s the other side of me where my intellect takes over and a lot of people just dismiss it.’
He joined the show hoping to win the $100,000 prize so he could take his father and older brother on vacation.
Despite being rejected, Vesce said she is determined to pursue her dream of getting a Duck Dynasty-like show off the ground that would feature her family’s log business, a feat they attempted to do before her mother passed away.
He now encourages others to follow their dreams and never pass up a good opportunity.
“Just go for what you want and you’ll never know what will happen,” he said. ‘There is much more to do in this world. There is much more to see. That’s why I try to make beauty out of the chaos of this world.’