At first, Camron King’s sixth-grade teacher thought he was nervous. King had just started at a new school when he told the teacher he couldn’t read aloud from his textbook. The problem, however, was more complicated than childhood stage fright.
He couldn’t see the words on the page. King’s parents took him to a doctor, who diagnosed him with a rare type of tumor called pheochromocytoma, a type of tumor located on the adrenal gland that can produce excessive adrenaline and lead to blurred vision and other side effects. After a month of tests and exploratory procedures, King underwent surgery to remove the tumor and his adrenal gland. He and his family thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime event.