Concordia President Graham Carr congratulates Nicholas Gavrielatos as he crosses the stage at his convocation ceremony.
Gavrielatos pictured with Anne-Marie Croteau, dean of the John Molson School of Business
When Gavrielatos was 16 years old, he was a dedicated hockey player. During an MRI examination for a concussion after a game, doctors discovered that he also had a non-malignant brain tumour requiring surgery.
The procedure was successful, but every 10 weeks since 2013, Gavrielatos has had to undergo an MRI to ensure that he remained tumour-free. For years, he also had a regular phone check-ins with his neurosurgeon-turned-friend, Kevin Petrecca, to confirm that his health was on track, which it was, until one day when it wasn’t.
The tumour was back. The timing was particularly challenging, because it was just after he had completed his coursework and was about to begin writing his master’s thesis.
“You feel like the world’s crashing down on you, and you’re processing your mortality again, for the second time, and you’re only 25,” he says. “I realized that I didn’t have the whole world in front of me like I had originally imagined.”
After a risky, but ultimately successful second surgery in February 2022, Gavrielatos faced a long and challenging journey to recovery, which continues today.
“I almost passed away. After my surgery it took me longer than normal to wake up and they didn’t know if I had bleeding in the brain or had fallen into a coma,” he says. “When I did finally wake up, I spent a week in the hospital. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t walk — I couldn’t do anything. It was like my life was hanging by a thread, and I truly never felt that close to death.”
After months of enduring physical and cognitive challenges, Gavrielatos pushed through. He gradually extended his walking distances and relearned to speak.
”I’m named after him, and when they called my name on stage, it was a special day for both of us,” says Gavrielatos of sharing his graduation day with his grandfather.