Center-Supported Undergrad is Cancer Survivor & Cancer Researcher
Friday May 14, 2010
K-STATE STUDENT USES OWN BATTLE WITH CANCER TO FUEL HIS PASSION FOR CANCER RESEARCH, FINDING A CURE
As a cancer survivor, Kansas State University student Andrew Satterlee says he feels a responsibility to study cancer and make the experience easier on others than it was for himself.
Satterlee, senior in chemical and biological engineering, Overland Park, has always had an interest in medical research. In high school he was diagnosed with celiac disease, or gluten intolerance. He had been planning on doing a research project on celiac disease in college, but in the fall semester of his sophomore year at K-State, Satterlee was faced with an experience that changed his research focus.
At 20 years old, Satterlee went to see a doctor about his chronic headaches and dizziness. He was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Satterlee had what is known as a germ cell tumor, about the size of a ping-pong ball, in the very center of his brain.