After surviving a brain tumor, Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Victoria Vesce faced another major health scare. Like many others, Vesce was in Miami for Art Basel late last year. The 29-year-old model was at an event when she realized something was off.
Vesce told Fox News Digital, “I just didn’t feel good. I remember telling my friends, and they were like, ‘Victoria, you need to call a doctor and get checked.’ But I was so busy being out and about. I was so caught up in the swirl of all the parties and everything that was going on.”
Vesce continued, “I was having so much fun during this weekend of art and parties. But then I was shocked when my left side started to go completely numb. That’s when I thought, ‘I gotta go to the hospital now.’ It was a really scary situation. I hadn’t felt that since my brain tumor diagnosis. It was a wake-up call.”
In 2017, Vesce was diagnosed with multiple paragangliomas, a brain-skull tumor and a carotid body tumor that required surgery and radiation treatment. After her recovery, doctors told Vesce she had a ministroke. They had to leave remnants of Vesce’s tumor because it wrapped around her brain stem. According to Vesce, if doctors touched it, she could have a stroke or be instantly paralyzed. Still, she’s completely deaf in one ear and suffers from tinnitus.
Vesce explained, “With my tumor, there are complications I can experience. Thankfully, the ministroke was kind of on the low end. But it was a wake-up call like, ‘Hey, let’s stay in tune with your health and keep those stress levels low.’ When I had numbness on the left side of my face, I didn’t realize what was happening. I was just so busy, on the go. But I’ve been more in tune with my health.”
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Vesce said she had a close-knit circle of friends and family who were on hand during her recovery. She also relied on her faith in God, especially when she felt blue. She explained, “Sometimes I have to backtrack because I’ll lose that sight. I’ll sit there and go, ‘Why me? How am I still going? Why am I still here?’ But honestly, it’s my faith in God that gives me hope. Without that, I would be nothing. And with it, I’m everything. My faith is what gets me through every day. It’s what got me through my whole journey. There have been some dark periods where I’ve just thought that maybe it’s better if I’m not here. My faith always brings me back. It brings me back to life. My faith is my hope, and my hope is my faith.”
“There are days when I go through something that brings me down,” Vesce continued. “But at the end of the day, as long as I have God and I have a heartbeat, and I’m still here, then I still have a purpose. And there are still so many things I want to accomplish. You’re going to hear a lot of nos. You’re going to get a lot of rejection. But that hasn’t stopped me. It used to affect me badly, but my faith is what pushes me forward. My faith is the fuel to my fire.”
The star said that getting a diagnosis of a ministroke “made my heart drop.” However, she was determined to come out of it stronger. There are new goals that need to be fulfilled, like traveling to 80 countries. Vesce wants to honor her late mother, whose passion was traveling.
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