Duty Calls: Bargersville and Whiteland Fire Chief, Eric Funkhouser, Returns to Work After Having Brain Tumor Removed at Franciscan Health
Applauds doctors, nurses and therapists for care
Less than three months after having a cancerous brain tumor removed at Franciscan Health Indianapolis, Bargersville and Whiteland Fire Chief Eric Funkhouser returned to work at the firehouses.
Crediting the doctors, nurses and therapists who were with him throughout the process, the Franklin native, who has been in fire service for 25 years, is back to doing what he loves. He also is very grateful for the community and his fellow firefighters, who have stood behind him.
On Labor Day evening this past September, Funkhouser and his wife, Brooke, were on their way to shop when Eric had a seizure in the parking lot of a store. He was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at a local hospital and later that evening, transferred to Franciscan Health Indianapolis. After an MRI, it was found that he had a brain tumor.
Dr. Kushal Shah, neurosurgeon with Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine, an independent physician who chooses to practice at Franciscan Health, met with Funkhouser and his family to explain what was happening and began to form a plan of attack. A trio of options were presented and discussed.
After consulting with Dr. Shah, Funkhouser and his family ultimately decided that the best course of action was to have a surgery that would completely remove the tumor. Thanks to a cancellation in Dr. Shah’s schedule, the surgery was on the books for September 16, just two weeks after Funkhouser’s seizure.
“Dr. Shah walked us through what the long-term effects of everything was and explained it to me and was nice enough to allow my wife and sons to be in there with us,” said Funkhouser. “As a family, we talked about everything from start to finish. It was really nice to have someone with such good bedside manner and who was willing to take the time and effort to walk us through everything. We have been thrilled with everything Dr. Shah has done from the start on this. He has been great to work with.”
On the morning of the surgery, when Funkhouser arrived at Franciscan Health Indianapolis, about 100 people from the community were waiting outside the hospital to cheer him on as he went inside. Many of those were his fellow firefighters. While he was in surgery, about 25 people remained in the waiting room with his family, offering support.
“It was really nice to know that people cared,” said Funkhouser. “All these people stopped their lives to come sit there for three hours, while I was in surgery. I will never forget what everybody did and the kindness and words that came through social media. There were so many encouraging messages. The community support has been huge since the get go. We will never forget that and want to be able to pass that on in the future to others dealing with this and pay it forward for what everybody did for us this entire time.”
Following the three-hour surgery performed by Dr. Shah, the road to recovery for Funkhouser began. A combination of physical, occupational and speech therapies awaited him each day. He quickly built a great rapport with the therapists at Franciscan. Wanting to return to how things were before the seizure. Funkhouser pushed himself each day during rehab. He currently continues with outpatient therapy.
“I could tell that each one of the therapists had my best interests at heart,” said Funkhouser. “They would come in and want to know how I was doing that day. If I was having a tough day, they would come in and just sit and talk. They would focus on fixing something on a daily basis to make it much better. It was very hard going through all of that, but I could not have done it without them. They were amazing. I joke around with my wife all the time that they were like wizards.”
While he wanted to get back to where he was prior to the seizure and surgery as quickly as possible, Funkhouser knew that oftentimes slowing down was the key, especially during rehab sessions. Re-learning everyday tasks took time, but with the skilled team of therapists at Franciscan, he was in good hands.
“A lot of the things we needed to do for healing took time,” said Funkhouser. “I was not going to get back to the way I was the day before surgery without some work. As a family, we are so thankful for what everyone at Franciscan did. They did so much for us to get us where we are today. I would not be sitting here today, and I would not be back at work and getting to do the things I am doing again if it wasn’t for them putting in all of the hard work.”
With the removed oligodendroglioma tumor being grade 2 non-aggressive, there is no current need for radiation or chemotherapy. The team at Franciscan Health will continue to monitor Funkhouser, with regular MRIs to make sure all is well.
Funkhouser is quick to point out that his faith has played a key role in everything that has happened over the last few months. He is thankful to those in the community who have been praying for him and continue to pray for him.
“We felt like every step of the way that God was part of it, putting the right surgeon and people in our lives at the right time,” said Funkhouser. “Every doctor that helped out, every therapist, every nurse that was there at that time helped push me to get better and worked with me to get to 100 percent where I needed to be. Every person truly cared about our family and made sure we were taken care of throughout this whole thing. Being at Franciscan Health made a big difference in my care.”
Learn more about Franciscan Health Indianapolis online.