He was headed to medical school orientation. Instead, doctors found a brain tumor.

Trevor Tamura dove for the volleyball to keep it from hitting the sand.

When he came up, he saw two volleyballs , not one.

He blinked, steadied himself, and tried to shake it off. The double vision had been coming and going for weeks, but this time, it felt harder to ignore. It was a July weekend in Breckenridge, just days before he was set to begin medical school at the nearby University of Colorado (CU) School of Medicine .

When the 24-year-old walked into the UCHealth Emergency Room to determine the cause of his symptoms the following day, the results shocked the aspiring doctor: His scans revealed a cancerous germ cell brain tumor.

"Everything happened all at once," says Tamura, now 25. "I'm about to start med school, I have orientation this week, but I'm getting all this news, and it seems like my life is now being pushed in a different direction."

While his peers reported to orientation that week, Tamura prepared for brain surgery.

In the year that followed, Tamura's childhood dreams of becoming a doctor were put on pause as he underwent chemotherapy and radiation. Now back at the CU School of Medicine as a first-year medical student, Tamura hopes his unique experience as a patient will shape how he cares for others.

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'It was just that whirlwind of anger, sadness, confusion'

Tamura was transferred to the Children's Hospital Colorado's Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders after neurosurgery for continuous treatment. Dr. Adam Green, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist who treated Tamura, says his condition was unusual for someone his age.

"It was just that whirlwind of anger, sadness, confusion," says Tamura of the initial diagnosis. "Am I going to die? Like, how serious is this brain tumor?"

Unlike most brain tumors, which develop from brain cells themselves, germ cell tumors originate from reproductive cells that have migrated to the brain during early development. Roughly 90% of these tumors are diagnosed in patients under 20 years old , often around the onset of puberty, making Tamura an outlier.

"This disease, his age, and the situation is quite rare," Green says.

Tamura's fellow medical students came to visit him after orientation, and continually checked in on him. And while he was excited for them when he saw the photos from their white coat ceremony, he had mentally prepared to be there with them.

"I was really sad, really angry that I was missing that," Tamura says, adding it felt like he had "missed the bus" on what he'd worked for his whole life. He remembers asking himself, "Why did this happen to me?"

Green says diagnoses for young people in this stage of life can be particularly challenging.

Many young people are transitioning out of school, starting careers and building independence, while still developing the coping skills needed to navigate major health challenges. A diagnosis might affect education and career plans, as well as financial stability at a time when patients might be shifting to new insurance coverage as they move between school and work.

"Kids and young adults are still learning coping skills," Green says. "It's a high risk time for mental illness and mental hardship, even in healthy teenagers and young adults."

Tamura deferred his medical school enrollment. As his peers were in their introductory courses, he began chemotherapy, followed by six weeks of radiation. He completed treatment in December of 2024.

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Bringing a new perspective to campus

Last summer, Tamura returned to campus, moving into a house across the street from UC Health. This time, he completed his orientation and white coat ceremony as planned, carrying with him the emotions of what he had endured.

He says his positive experience with his team of providers — the person who gave him the news of his diagnosis was a fourth year medical student — shifted the way he views patient communications.

"Now that I'm learning how to deliver tough news like that to patients, I think of her every single time and how she sat with me, listened to me, connected with me, called my mom for me," Tamura says.

Though he initially planned to pursue virology, his experience shifted his interest toward oncology. Last December, he returned to Green's office, but this time, to shadow him. He hopes to complete a lab rotation with him in the future.

"Seeing some younger patients with him, and seeing what he was able to offer to them and talk with them about because he had that personal experience with it, was really special," Green says.

Tamura is focused on what comes next. No matter what, he wants his experience as a patient to keep him "humble" and guide how he cares for patients.

"I'll always have that perspective of what it's like to be on the other side," says Tamura. "I never want to lose that."

Rachel Hale's role covering Youth Mental Health at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Reach her at rhale@usatoday.com and @rachelleighhale  on X.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Medical student's rare brain tumor discovered just before orientation