Using AI to Fight a Brain Tumor: A Personal Story

Andrew Rodriguez has detailed his experience using artificial intelligence to research a medical condition after standard treatments failed to cure his girlfriend’s brain tumor. In a narrative published by The Free Press on April 10, 2026, Rodriguez described how he turned to AI chatbots and research tools to find information that he claims was overlooked by medical professionals.

The patient, Amy, was 25 years old when she began experiencing symptoms including bone density loss, crushing fatigue and the absence of her menstrual cycle for several months. Initial consultations with multiple doctors led to suggestions of burnout, allergies, or a need for more sleep before an MRI revealed the presence of a brain tumor.

Understanding Prolactinomas

Amy was diagnosed with a prolactinoma, which is a tumor located in the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland is a pea-sized organ at the base of the brain responsible for controlling hormones.

While many prolactinomas are benign and slow-growing—often shrinking with the use of medication—Amy’s case presented several complications:

• The growth was caught late and was gaining mass rapidly.
• The tumor was situated in a rare position that threatened her vision.
• Her hormone levels were wildly elevated.

Medical providers informed the couple that a standard course of treatment, which included two surgeries, would entirely remove the tumor. However, the tumor continued to return after these procedures.

The Role of AI in Medical Research

Following the unsuccessful surgeries, Rodriguez acted as a full-time nurse for Amy, who suffered from bedridden headaches and the risk of spinal fluid leaks, which prevented her from bending over or blowing her nose.

Driven by a loss of trust in the medical system, Rodriguez began using an AI chatbot to seek answers. He subsequently dedicated himself to researching her condition full-time using AI tools to navigate the tens of thousands of published papers on brain tumors.

Rodriguez stated on LinkedIn that within his first week of AI-assisted research, he discovered a scientific paper that leading pituitary scientists told him they had never seen.

When Amy was diagnosed with a brain tumor, I did what anyone would do: I trusted the system. Two surgeries later, the tumor was still there. So I started using AI to research her condition full time.

Andrew Rodriguez

The account highlights a growing trend of patients and caregivers utilizing large language models and AI search tools to synthesize complex medical literature that may be difficult for individual practitioners to track in its entirety.