‘American Idol’ Alum Avalon Young Just Had Her Second Surgery for Brain Cancer But Her Outlook Is Positive

Young shared in an interview with TMZ that she began having seizures in November 2020. Doctors initially thought it was an issue with anxiety or serotonin levels, but Young's mother still pushed her to get an MRI. After the MRI result came back, she was shocked to learn of the tumor "about as big as a peach" on the left frontal lobe of her brain.

She had an intense surgery on Feb. 26 to remove the tumor, and then shared that she had been diagnosed with brain cancer on April 3. She just came out of her second surgery on Thursday, but she still needs chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

“With this second surgery, they want to get out as much as they can so when they go on with radiation and chemo, they have a better chance of fully killing all the cancer that’s in there,” Young told PEOPLE before the surgery.

Young has handled her intense cancer journey with grace, but she acknowledges that it’s not always easy.

“It’s hard to get used to the fact that, at 26 years old, I’m dealing with [cancer], but I’m going to fight it. We’re going to get through it and, and that’ll be that,” Young said. “‘How can you be told that you have something like cancer and not think about it every day?’… It’s one of the first things I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I fall asleep. If I’m not making every day the best day of my life, what am I doing?”

So how does she actually handle all the stress and emotion that comes with a cancer journey? One step at a time.

“I take everything day by day,” she said. “I mean, I could freak out if I wanted to and I’ve freaked myself out a few times, but I know that I have the best team of surgeons who have already taken really good care of me. I trust them to go in again and do this. We’re just going to get this cancer done and then we’re going to do radiation and we’re going to do chemo. And then after that, I’m just going to live the best version of my life every day until I die. As this whole experience has taught me, you don’t know what’s going to happen to you tomorrow.”

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And with Young’s determination to make the most of every day, it’s no wonder she’s still been working on music throughout her cancer journey. In fact, she’s already released a single called She Don't as a teaser for her upcoming album Lush, which she's been working on throughout her cancer treatment. The album is set to be released June 1.

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“Music is the only thing where, when I’m doing it, I don’t think about anything else,” Young said. “I mean, I got back in the studio two weeks after my surgery, and along with my team, we created an album, which kind of blows my mind when I hear it considering I was in the middle of my recovery while making it. I feel like it sounds cliché, but music really saves people’s lives.”

Understanding Brain Cancer

According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), brain tumors account for 85 to 90 percent of all primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors. The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord and acts as the main "processing center" for the entirety of the nervous system, according to the American Cancer Society. Normal function of the brain and spinal cord can become difficult if there's a tumor present that puts pressure on or spreads into nearby normal tissue.

Young has not specified her exact type of brain cancer, but there are many different types. Some types of brain and spinal cord tumors are more likely to spread into nearby parts of the brain or spinal cord than others. Slow-growing tumors may be considered benign, but even these tumors can cause serious problems.

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Brain Tumor Symptoms

Symptoms of brain tumors are often caused by increased pressure in the skull. This pressure can be caused by tumor growth, swelling in the brain or blockage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), according to the American Cancer Society.

General symptoms may include the following, but it is important to note that these symptoms are not exclusive to brain tumors:

• Headache
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Blurred vision
• Balance problems
• Personality or behavior changes
• Seizures
• Drowsiness or even coma

Staying Positive Through Treatment

It’s very normal to have negative feelings throughout your cancer journey, and it’s okay to express them too! Anger, shame, fear, anxiety it's all to be expected. But doctors will tell you that people who find a way to work through the emotions and stay positive tend to have better outcomes.

Stay Positive, It Matters

"A positive attitude is really important," says Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “I'm pretty good at telling what kind of patients are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life.”

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