Greenwood Community High School

Recently, Woodmen Athletics was made aware that one of our very own, Mani Naraini, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Brain Cancer. Below is information on Mani's condition, as well as, a link to the Greenwood Education Foundation Donation Page. If you are able and willing to donate to Mani's family, it would be greatly appreciated. Below is Mani's story and a link to donate: Link: https://e.givesmart.com/events/vWv/ Mani Naraini, a Greenwood native, is a freshman at Greenwood High School. At the end of last summer, Mani began having intermittent paralysis on his left side. At the beginning of the school year, the episodes were sporadic but began to happen more frequently, especially in gym class. Mani’s gym teacher noticed the possible seizure activity and contacted his mom, Michelle. They went to his primary doctor, who thought it was some type of frontal migraine, and referred Mani to a neurologist. While waiting for testing to be ordered by the neurologist, Mani started experiencing seizures more frequently. Despite having these episodes, Mani stayed upbeat while attending school and participating in tennis workouts. On February 27th, Mani underwent an MRI of his brain to see if they could find the cause of his seizures. The results came the next day as Michelle was driving home from work, “Your son has a brain tumor and you need to go to Riley ER now!” The next three days were full of testing and he was scheduled for surgery. It was discovered that Mani has a frontal lobe mass that could only be partially removed due to its location in the brain. Some of the tumor-covered areas would cause Mani to be paralyzed, so those parts could not be removed. Still Mani stayed upbeat and even signed a permission slip for his tumor to be studied so other kids wouldn’t have to go through what he is going through now. His biggest worry before surgery was that his mother would not be alone and worrying about him while he was in his 8-hour surgery. The first few days after surgery were rough; Mani could not use his left side and was in a lot of pain. Despite this, Mani has stayed upbeat and kept a positive attitude. Six days after Mani’s surgery pathology came back that Mani has brain cancer. Mani has a long road ahead and is scheduled to stay in the hospital until at least the end of the month. Currently, he is staying in the rehab unit and has multiple daily therapies – physical, occupational, and speech. Four to six weeks after surgery Mani will start radiation in hopes to shrink the remaining tumor. Mani’s wish is to get back to school and tennis. He has been on the school tennis team for the last two years and does off season lessons to help improve his game. His other true passion is cooking, and his dream is to be a professional chef or tennis player. Mani also likes to fish and play video games when he isn’t in school. Most of all he enjoys spending time with his mother. Mani is a fighter and is working hard in therapy. Mani is very thankful that his grandparents have been able to come up and stay with him and his mom in the hospital. Mani and Michelle appreciate all the prayers and support they have received...Keep them coming! Mani has a long road ahead but continues to stay positive.