MANSFIELD — Christian Nolen thought he just needed to walk off an injury from a Divebomb show in November.
“All the other injuries I’ve had in my life have basically been that,” he said. “I’ve been roughed up in mosh pits before and was hoping this wasn’t a big deal.”
Nolen was knocked to the ground at The Electric Company on Nov. 10 at Divebomb’s farewell show, so his roommate took him to the hospital.
There, an MRI uncovered a two-centimeter brain tumor.
“I went into the restroom after I got hit and I realized my face was drooping and I couldn’t move my left arm,” the 24-year-old said. “It was toward the end of the show, and I told my friend I needed help, and that’s what launched this whole process.”
Nolen stayed at The James Cancer Hospital for five days where a biopsy revealed astrocytoma brain cancer.
“Hearing they found a tumor, my heart dropped to my stomach,” he said. “Honestly, I stayed up all night freaking out a bit. I was scared.”
The Navy veteran was recently featured in a 7 News Miami feature, shown playing guitar during the surgery.
“That was actually the neurosurgeon Dr. Komotar’s idea,” he said.
“Since the tumor was sitting right on top of the nerves and the part of my brain that controlled my left-side motor function, if I stopped playing or if anything went wrong, then that would communicate to the team that they were near a vital part of my brain.”
Nolen, currently living in Coral Springs, had his craniotomy at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
He said the surgery removed the entire tumor, but he still needs 30 radiation and chemotherapy treatments. His first treatment was Feb. 1.
GoFundMe raises more than $5,000
“I do still have cancer cells, so the doctors just want to get to the point where it’s manageable,” Nolen said. “The chemo won’t completely eradicate it, but it will make it manageable for the rest of my life.”
The Florida native lived in Mansfield from April to November 2023 after serving in the Navy from 2018 to 2023.
“I lived there with a good friend of mine, and our plan was to come back to Florida,” he said. “I’ve always been pretty active in my local music scenes, so I tried to go to almost every Divebomb show and a good handful of others in Mansfield.”
Jake Henry, Divebomb vocalist, said the band members couldn’t see what happened to Nolen in the moment.
“It’s always pretty crowded and we can’t really see a lot from the stage, especially with 300 people there,” he said. “But Christian’s friend Phil texted me later that evening and said sorry we had to leave early.
“We all let him know we’re thinking about him and obviously want to support him any way we can. He’s staying really positive and we can’t wait to celebrate with him once he beats this.”
Nolen’s GoFundMe, posted on Jan. 25, has raised more than $5,000. He said he’s grateful for finding his brain tumor when he did.
“I don’t regret getting hit in the head because I wouldn’t have found the tumor otherwise,” he said.
“We found it at a very opportune moment. One of the band members said ‘hardcore saves lives,’ and I think that’s a pretty sick tagline to sum up this whole thing.”
Nolen still has months of chemotherapy and regular cancer screenings ahead of him.
Anyone wanting to support his medical expenses can donate to his GoFundMe.