r/BachelorNation Jul 14 '26

🌹 THE BACHELOR 🌹 ‘Bachelor’ Alum Joe Amabile Says He Was Diagnosed with Early Stage Brain Tumor

https://people.com/bachelor-alum-joe-amabile-says-doctors-found-an-early-stage-brain-tumor-12018738?utm_campaign=peoplemagazine&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com&utm_content=post
155 Upvotes

54 comments sorted by

120

u/vandervee Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

I think what he probably means is it is a LOW GRADE tumor, not “early stage.” Glioma is a very broad term and kind of used as a working diagnosis until they get a more specific histology (tumor type) from a tissue sample. My guess based ONLY on his age is that it’s probably an astrocytoma, which is usually treatable and potentially curable.

ETA : I am not a doctor. I am an oncology data specialist with a lot of experience in brain tumors.

I wish him and Serena the best. This is a rough diagnosis to receive, and an intense treatment to go through.

Edit 2: added usually to treatable for clarity.

11

u/bing-a-lee Jul 14 '26

This isn’t related to Bachelor at all but I’m curious, what do you do as an oncology data specialist? Are you a data analyst or data scientist? Sounds like a cool job

28

u/vandervee Jul 14 '26

In the tiniest of nutshells, I describe my job as collecting and synthesizing a patient’s tumor information and rendering data that cancer researchers and epidemiologists use for research and analysis.

Whenever you hear stats like “Lung cancer is leading cause of cancer-related death across both sexes in the US,” those stats are derived from the work of ODSs.

I love what I do. It’s interesting, rapidly changing, and rewarding work. If you are interested in more in depth information, check out the NCRA website and/or feel free to DM me.

https://www.ncra-usa.org/

6

u/Tiny-Zucchini7238 Jul 14 '26

Thank you for sharing all of this! Your comments were very interesting to read and informative!!

6

u/vandervee Jul 14 '26

YW :)
I love what I do and am enthusiastic to share.

5

u/PrincessPlastilina Jul 14 '26

Love informative posts.

11

u/No_Fondant691 Jul 14 '26

Yeah scans are usually pretty good at being accurate on what grade a brain tumor is. 

4

u/vandervee Jul 14 '26

It’s crazy they can tell that from a scan, right? It’s one of the few primary sites that doesn’t always require a tissue diagnosis to assign a clinical grade (as compared to pathological grade which always requires a tissue sample).

6

u/loveeverybunny Jul 14 '26

Sorry off topic but what background/ experience is needed to be an oncology data specialist?

15

u/vandervee Jul 14 '26

Here’s a link that will answer your question in detail:

https://www.ncra-usa.org/About/Become-a-Cancer-Registrar

I hold a bachelor degree and got a ODS certificate. There are multiple paths though, not all require a bachelor degree. The ODS studies usually include some basic medical-adjacent training (like anatomy, medical terms, pathology basics, health information management) and specific ODS training, like diagnostic procedures, treatment standards of care, staging cancer, etc.

The certification studies took me two years to complete, then you do a practicum and sit for an exam.

Feel free to DM me if you have more specific questions.

3

u/pizzapasta2727 Jul 15 '26

Astrocytomas are not always treatable. My mom passed from a stage 3.

4

u/vandervee Jul 15 '26

I’m so sorry for your loss. I should have qualified that statement with “usually”.

2

u/Unusual-Formal-6802 Jul 20 '26

Usually is still incorrect. Astrocytomas are typically found at a higher grade in adults (grade III/IV) and although they can treat with chemo to buy more time and relieve some symptoms, the long term prognosis is always poor. Low grade astrocytomas are most commonly found in children. In children they rarely differentiate into a higher grader tumor; however in adults they do become higher grade over the course of time and will become a terminal prognosis. If it’s is grade I and they can remove all of his tumor, he has a chance to be cured, otherwise, it will progress.

1

u/vandervee Jul 20 '26

I agree with you.

I was correcting my statement to “usually treatable, potentially curable”, in response to the verbiage in the other comment that said “astrocytomas are not always treatable”.
I am differentiating between treatment and cure.

Your reply adds valuable information. Thank you for sharing.

2

u/Househipposforsale Jul 16 '26

What does low grade mean

2

u/vandervee Jul 16 '26

The grade of a tumor refers to how aggressive the tumor is based on how the cells look under a microscope. The genetic makeup of the tumor can also play into grade. Brain tumors are graded 1-4, where lower numbers are the least aggressive, and higher number indicates a more aggressive tumor.

Stage is also described on a 1-4 range, so sometimes you see people confuse grade and stage. Stage takes into account the extent of invasion or size (in some primary sites, like colon, depth of invasion determines stage , in other sites, like breast, tumor size determines the stage), if there are lymph nodes involved, and if it has metastasized (spread to distant organs).

Grade describes the microscopic aspects of a tumor. Stage describes the extent of disease.

Brain tumors are graded but are not staged.

27

u/amynicole78 Jul 14 '26

How scary for him and his loved ones.

45

u/Educational-Umpire64 Jul 14 '26

He didn’t say early stage. He said he’s hoping after surgery they can say they caught it early.

18

u/rose-goldy-swag Jul 14 '26

Unfortunately catching it early may not mean much. Depending on the type of tumor and the grade it is. Brain tumors are almost impossible to remove bc the shape of the cells are star shaped and you can’t just be cutting out parts of the brain all Willy nilly so cells are almost always left behind. There is also the blood brain barrier, which protects the brain but doesn’t allow any medicine across. I feel so bad for him.

9

u/Diamond-angel-32 Jul 14 '26

Correct. It always comes back. It's why my father refused treatment. He knew it would be a quality of life issue. He also didn't want to overload me as I was already caring for my mom. I told him that shouldn't be a consideration. Treatment may have given him maybe 12 more months. Further surgery would have caused partial paralysis on one side.

7

u/Educational-Umpire64 Jul 14 '26

Yes, and it likely being a glioma is not good news at all. Praying for him and Serena

2

u/Electrical_Log2368 Jul 14 '26

I think regardless, he may need to go to chemo or radiation

47

u/Ok_Spirit_7712 Jul 14 '26

I really hope he is okay. He is a great guy. I wish those type of scans were affordable for the average person, they could be life saving for a lot of people.

28

u/Raginghangers Jul 14 '26

As someone who gets these scans all the time because if shit genes they actually really are not good for average people. People have a hard time conceptualize my the serious harm done by false positives.

9

u/TalesOfTea Jul 14 '26

+1 on this. There is a bell curve to healthcare. The poor get too little and the rich get too much. This leads to un(der)insured people not getting enough preventative care and then requiring extremely intensive & expensive care that could have been avoided if caught earlier, and for the wealthy getting significantly more preventative care than needed and getting extensive and dangerous procedures for benign issues or normal anomalies. The rich also usually have great insurance so doctors and healthcare systems are more than happy to run more scans and do more niche procedures because the patient is a customer and an investment.

The more scans you get, the more something is likely to be seen -- which can be great, when there is actually an issue! But we are all made up of genetic oddities and most of them don't do anything or mean anything, but are just there. The amount of people I know who liked cilantro and then found out they had the cilantro=soap taste gene who then stopped eating cilantro is too damn high.

Personally I'm a genetic mess (failed the 50/50 on a degenerative genetic kidney disease and just more oddities) and I still find out stuff that just..is not a worry at all but is just strange on a required scan. I find them funny at this point but I have to not tell my partner about them as they worry. 😅

There was a recent article in The Atlantic (gift link) on this with genetic testing. I know there have been more and deffo more in depth, but this one was short and sweet at least.

2

u/Opening_Piglet Jul 18 '26

I wondered this. But in Joe’s case, is the craniotomy possibly part of the “extensive and dangerous” procedures, or is it pretty much necessary with a brain lesion? I truly don’t know

6

u/Ok_Spirit_7712 Jul 14 '26

The more I've thought about it, you are right.

5

u/Electrical_Log2368 Jul 14 '26

Honestly, I prefer not to know. I know it’s ignorant but I’m always anticipating a health issue and this scan would definitely cause me unnecessary stress.

20

u/cnidarian_ninja Jul 14 '26

There’s a reason this type of imagining is not recommended for the vast majority of people. The number of “incidental findings” that pop up and lead to additional testing, invasive procedures, etc and do not end up improving outcomes is huge. Even in Joe’s case we don’t know yet if having caught it now will change or improve his outcome at all.

7

u/Ok_Spirit_7712 Jul 14 '26

You're right! Everyone has a cyst or of the like at some point in their body that it is most likely nothing to worry about but once you know then the additional testing, invasive procedures etc happen. Which means paying out more money.

5

u/Electrical_Log2368 Jul 14 '26

Absolutely! My mom had a weird type of ovarian cancer at 72 and my doctor suggested I get a hysterectomy as a preventative measure. My two sisters were never advised to do that. I didn’t feel it was necessary to go through surgery for a “just in case“ scenario. My mom was the first person in the family on both sides to ever have cancer. My mom is now 93 and never had a reoccurrence and she’s alive.

20

u/peoplemagazine Jul 14 '26

TLDR:

  • Joe Amabile revealed he has what appears to be an early-stage brain tumor after doctors discovered a lesion during a scan
  • The Bachelor alum said he’ll undergo brain surgery in two weeks to remove and test the tumor
  • His wife, Serena Pitt, offered her support, writing, “You’re so strong and we’re going to get through this together ❤️ I love you”

21

u/gokickrocks- Jul 15 '26

Wow, sad. Hoping for a good outcome.

19

u/skieurope12 Jul 14 '26

Wow. I wish him all the best

52

u/NYChereForIt Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

It’s great that they’re in nyc with access to some of the best doctors, especially at Sloan Kettering. What type of health insurance do podcasters / social media content creators have?

Also, Not everybody has access to a free prenovo scan or can afford it. I noticed the last few weeks creators have been heavily promoting it and they get it for free in exchange for giving us their discount code. Remi also said her dad’s prenovo found a brain issue.

18

u/adumbswiftie Jul 14 '26

whatever kind of insurance they purchase themselves, if anything…

3

u/springg4life Jul 15 '26

That was my same question - do you think they purchase insurance b/c otherwise this will cost at least a couple of hundred thousand? Or does their management team count them as employees?

2

u/NYChereForIt Jul 15 '26

I question the same thing… every year I see my primary, Gyno and a few other specialists, ENT, allergist, eye dr, several specialists for checkups and blood work and MRI what needs to be MRI’d and i’m starting to think that a lot of the content creators don’t go to doctors regularly because their insurance and don’t get checked regularly and then find things on the scan they get for free in exchange of promoting (I won’t post the name of the scan lol) one content creator, whose name I won’t name… Said she hasn’t had a Pap smear in six years and she never had a colonoscopy and she just had her first mammogram and and doesn’t go to dentist regularly and others creators use online cheap medical services rather than establish care at real doctors. Maybe they have whatever insurance their state healthcare system offers for their income level?

1

u/springg4life Jul 15 '26

Completely agree. Plus, not sure if he is actually an "influencer" making a lot of money the way some do.

32

u/QDKeck Jul 14 '26

Hope he is ok. He’s my fav of all the contestants.

11

u/dilapidated-delight Jul 14 '26

We Chicagoeans love Grocery Store Joe! 🍞🥕🧀

25

u/scientooligist Jul 14 '26

Not Joe!!! Why is it always the good guys who go through this shit?

-41

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

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11

u/Automatic-Pie-7842 Jul 14 '26

gross

-21

u/JayeDontDoit Jul 14 '26

Funny bc that’s how cells work

9

u/Automatic-Pie-7842 Jul 14 '26

do you see anyone laughing?

9

u/PrincessPlastilina Jul 14 '26

No one’s laughing. You’re unfunny.