Chicago Woman's Five-Year Symptom Journey Leads to Rare Brain Tumor Diagnosis
Melony Aponte, 26, was diagnosed with a 4.5-centimeter acoustic neuroma after five years of symptoms she attributed to stress, COVID-19, and aging. The rare, noncancerous tumor—affecting roughly one in 100,000 people—had grown large enough to compress her hearing and balance nerve before it was identified via MRI in March 2025. Her case highlights how acoustic neuroma symptoms can mimic common conditions, potentially delaying diagnosis for years.
Melony Aponte, a Chicago resident, first noticed mild hearing loss and tinnitus in her left ear in 2020 at age 20, initially dismissing the symptoms as damage from loud music. Over the following years she developed additional symptoms including anxiety, panic attacks, persistent migraines, dramatic weight loss of nearly 40 pounds, balance problems, facial numbness, and body tremors—each attributed to stress or other causes. She was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder during this period, and her ENT later suggested her hearing issues could be a COVID-19 side effect. An MRI in March 2025 revealed an acoustic neuroma measuring 4.5 centimeters—described as golf ball-sized—pressing on the eighth cranial nerve, which governs hearing and balance. On April 9, 2025, Aponte underwent a 13-hour surgery that removed 99 percent of the tumor; a small remnant was left to protect the facial nerve. She spent two weeks hospitalized followed by rehabilitation, during which she had to relearn basic functions including walking and eating, and she is now partially deaf in her left ear. Photos from her hospital stay and recovery show a marked contrast, and Aponte says the experience has fundamentally changed her perspective on life.
What's missing
The articles do not include independent medical commentary on acoustic neuroma diagnosis timelines, typical treatment outcomes, or whether the tumor's unusually large size (4.5 cm) at diagnosis is common or exceptional. While the sources do mention that 1 percent of tumor tissue was left behind to protect the facial nerve, any discussion of the long-term monitoring implications of that residual tissue is absent.
What different sources said
- Yahoo FinanceCenter
Woman hears ringing in her ears, blames stress—then learns terrifying truth
- NewsweekCenter
Woman Hears Ringing in Her Ears, Blames Stress—Then Learns Terrifying Truth
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