Amanda Rinehart has always enjoyed being out in nature and working in her garden. She looks forward to attending concerts and music festivals. She throws herself eagerly into every new experience she can find. In short, Amanda loves life — and at age 32, she just wanted to be able to live it.
Unfortunately, Amanda had been plagued with headaches as far back as she could remember. Between the ages of 17 and 32, she had been treated for six brain tumors, including five surgeries and radiation therapy. Nothing worked; the tumor kept coming back. She’d grown desperate. She was ready to explore alternative approaches.
“I’ve tried all the standard treatments, and they haven’t worked for me,” she says. “So, I decided I really wanted a second opinion at Penn State Health.”
Targeted Hope: Precision Brain Tumor Care
By Monica Vanover on December 17, 2025
“The most rewarding part of my job has been the ability to take a child who has a very complex, sometimes fatal heart condition and repair it and meet that family and tell them that their kid is going to be alright."
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— Dr. Myers
John L. Myers, MD
Cardiothoracic Surgery, Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery, Thoracic Surgery
We remove as much of the tumor as we safely can, and then we place these little one-inch by one-inch tiles around the cavity that have radioactive sources in them. That allows us to start the radiation treatment immediately — that allows it to be exactly where we want it to be, and really nowhere else.
— Brad Zacharia, MD
Learn More About Penn State Health Children's Hospital
At Penn State Health, Amanda was confident she’d not only have access to cutting-edge surgical, radiation, and chemotherapy treatments but also a range of state-of-the-art experimental therapies and clinical trials. She’d also be under the care of experienced and highly trained professionals, including Brad Zacharia, MD, a neurosurgeon who specializes in brain tumors and Sean Mahase, MD, a radiation oncologist. Together with a multidisciplinary tumor board, they looked at Amanda’s condition and history of surgeries and decided she was a prime candidate for a new treatment: GammaTile.
“Going through one brain operation is enough for most people in their lifetime,” says Dr. Zacharia, who is the Division Chief of Neuro-Oncology and Skull-Base Surgery at Penn State Health. “To have four or five or six is a whole other story. And that’s not even to talk about all the other treatments she’s gone through.”
“So, for someone like Amanda, who is very young and healthy, GammaTile was the safest, most effective way,” adds Dr. Mahase. “We’re not just looking for tumor control, but we’re looking to minimize side effects and improve quality of life thereafter.”
A safer alternative to traditional radiation
Doctors had used radiation therapy to stave off the recurring tumor and buy Amanda time— but the treatment had consequences.
“For any other type of radiation therapy that exists, you still have to get to the tumor area, meaning you’re passing through normal tissues,” says Dr. Mahase. “For someone like Amanda, we were concerned about that process and what that would mean for her skin or bone getting to that point.”
In fact, the traditional radiation had already caused considerable damage to Amanda’s scalp and surrounding brain tissue. The doctors were concerned that any further exposure to the dangerous rays might be too much for her to take. That’s why GammaTile appeared to be the ideal solution.
GammaTiles are small, one-inch-by-one-inch, square tiles that are embedded with radioactive seeds. The idea is to surgically remove as much of the tumor as safely possible and then place these tiles around the walls of the brain cavity where the tumor once grew. Radiation from these tiles begins immediately, providing concentrated therapy precisely where the doctors want it without having to pass through any other tissues or affecting any of the surrounding areas of the brain.
“It’s a type of radiation we can actually implant into a patient,” says Dr. Mahase.
GammaTile delivers about 90% of its radiation within 30 days after implantation, and that radiation gradually lessens until it is undetectable. The tiles eventually dissolve safely inside the body.
“After my surgery in June, I got some function back, and I’m gaining strength back,” says Amanda. “So, it was just really exciting."
But Amanda’s care at Penn State Health didn’t end with the successful GammaTile surgery— in fact, it was only just beginning.
While Amanda was recovering and starting a new inhibitor therapy that blocks signals that help the tumor grow, her doctors wanted to be sure her physical and mental health was kept up. Her physician assistant, Lexie Lantz, referred her to Penn State Cancer Institute’s Kristen Olewine Milke Cancer Assistance and Resource Education (CARE) Center, which provides support and education to cancer patients and their families. The goal is to combine evidence-based medical treatments with supportive care and help patients not just survive but thrive.
“My main goal as the physician assistant when patients are in their surveillance and survivorship, is to identify who would best be referred to the care center,” says Lantz, “and that would benefit from all the different things they offer, like mental health counseling, support groups, nutrition, and exercise therapy.”
The CARE Center provides everything from practical support with finances and insurance to group therapy to information and resources on disease and treatment-related side effects.
“They care about me as a person and my quality of life,” she says. “They check up on me. I can always call whenever I want. And we’re laughing and she’ll explain everything to me and put it into words that I can understand.”
Amanda is grateful for her care at Penn State Health, and her doctors are equally inspired by her commitment to helping others. By choosing GammaTile treatment, she has helped advance care and advocate for future brain cancer patients.
“We need people like Amanda who are willing to take the chance, knowing not only is she benefiting herself, but in the future, another patient may benefit from her being this pioneer,” says Dr. Mahase.
“The GammaTile gave me a lot of hope for my future,” says Amanda. “Everybody calls me ‘The Girl that Always Smiles.’ They say that I inspire them. It just makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I have to fight not just for myself but for everybody else.”
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