In November 2010, Helo Matzelle began hearing voices in her head.

She likened the experience to a movie clip as the voices interacted with each other. She also began hearing a loud ringing in her ears, had a metallic taste in her mouth and would feel like she was about to faint, but never did. This happened about 10-12 times in the span of two months. The 50-year-old Redmond resident initially attributed these symptoms to stress or to her spending a lot of time in a building that had just been newly painted.

The reality was much more serious.

THE HARDEST WEEKEND

Matzelle — who ended up losing about 50 percent of her hearing in her right ear — visited her ear, nose and throat doctor, who initially thought she might have had a benign tumor in her ear. She went in for an MRI scan on a Friday in January 2011. The results came in the same day and when Matzelle returned to her doctor’s office, there was another doctor present.

Matzelle, who was 46 at the time, learned that they had found a tumor the size of a golf ball on the main artery in her brain.

Upon learning the news, Matzelle said she turned to her faith.

“God, please make something beautiful of this,” she said about what she prayed for.

In addition to the difficulty of learning about the tumor, Matzelle is a mother of three and she and her husband would have to find a way to break the news to their children. She said they decided to wait till the following Monday — after they met with a neurosurgeon and got more information — before telling their one daughter and two sons.

“That’s probably one of the hardest weekends I had,” she said about having to keep things quiet.

After meeting with the neurosurgeon that Monday, they scheduled Matzelle’s surgery to remove the tumor — a microcystic meningioma — for a week later. She said she did not do chemotherapy or radiation because they did not know if the tumor was cancerous as they could not remove any tissue to test it due to where the tumor was located.

A SCARY SURGERY

Prior to the surgery, which took place at the First Hill Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Matzelle said the doctor had to cauterize all of the blood supply to the tumor. They had to do this twice, she said, because the first cauterizing was not as thorough as they would have liked.

While she was on the operating table, Matzelle said she had a seizure, though the doctor wasn’t clear as to why. Following the seven-hour surgery, the doctor woke her up to ask her questions such as her name and age, the date and other simple things. This was to make sure the doctor did not accidentally cause any damage to her brain during the surgery that would affect other functions, Matzelle said.

“We’re very thankful he did that,” she said, adding that this gave her family reassurance that things had gone well.

LONG ROAD TO RECOVERY

Matzelle spent eight weeks in recovery — three of which were in the intensive-care unit at Swedish on First Hill. After that, she transferred to the Cherry Hill Swedish and spent five weeks in that location’s in-patient rehabilitation center. There, she went through physical, occupational and speech therapy to regain skills affected by the surgery. This was followed by 20 weeks of in-home therapy and despite all of this work, Matzelle said some of her cognitive, emotional and physical functions are still affected. She added that she can no longer feel the left side of her face as well — so it is as if she’s been at the dentist every day.

Matzelle said since her surgery, she and her family have gained a new perspective on life. She said they “love each other like (they) never have before” and things that seem so important to some people such as the kind of car they drive and the size of their homes don’t really matter anymore.

SHARING HER STORY

Matzelle details all of this and more in “Halo Found Hope,” her recently released memoir. The story spans her life from when she first began hearing the voices in her head to about two years later as she learns to cope with her new post-surgery normal.

“I had a second chance in life,” she said about what she learned from her whole experience. “What I gained was remarkable.”

The book is available at amazon.com and Barnes & Noble as well as Matzelle’s website at halofoundhope.com. Matzelle added that she has been working with the National Brain Tumor Society since she recovered and a portion of her book’s proceeds will go to the nonprofit, which is dedicated to finding better treatments and ultimately a cure for people living with brain tumors.

Matzelle said she never planned to write a book about her experiences.

“This thing started as a diary hidden in a drawer,” she admitted.

But soon, she said she was “moved to write it.” She said she hopes that through her book, people will learn that it is all about perspective and that whatever challenges they face, they can be conquered.

“My hope would be that people learn they don’t have to be afraid of what you’re facing and that you’re not alone,” she said.