By Caitlyn Jacobus/DWR
“You have a tumor growing in your head.” These were the paralyzing words Hanover native and avid turkey hunter, Taylor Jacobus, was told at his January 2026 doctor’s appointment.
What was supposed to be a typical check-up for headaches, mild ear ringing, facial sensations, and sinus pressure took an unexpected turn when the doctor ordered an MRI and discovered a 2.5-cm vestibular schwannoma (commonly known as an acoustic neuroma) growing on the nerve from Jacobus’ ear to his brain.
The red arrow points to Taylor Jacobus’ tumor.
After consulting with four different neurosurgical teams across the country, Jacobus, a healthy 38-year-old, had a clear but terrifying path forward—a craniotomy to remove the tumor before it further compressed his brain stem.
Acoustic neuromas are considered rare but typically benign. Approximately one in 100,000 people are diagnosed annually. While Jacobus faced a slew of standard surgical risks, one of the scariest was being told he could lose his hearing. This was a devastating prognosis for someone who has been hunting turkeys fervently for over two decades.
Every turkey hunter knows the importance of sound during a turkey hunt. From the treetop gobbles to on-the-ground spitting and drumming, these sounds are essential for reading turkeys, locating them, and knowing how to call them in. The idea of turkey hunting successfully while being single-sided deaf felt impossible to Jacobus, but if die-hard turkey hunters know one thing, it’s perseverance.
Fast forward to 74 days later, Jacobus underwent more than eight hours of surgery to remove the tumor. Thanks to an incredible surgical team at Duke University Hospital (N.C.), Jacobus awoke to news of near-total resection (90-95 percent tumor removal), complete facial nerve preservation, and most surprising of all, partial hearing in his right ear. The results felt miraculous, especially as spring turkey season approached.
It took 11 days of using a walker, 28 days of no driving, and 37 days of not picking up his son. Jacobus pushed doggedly through the grueling first few weeks of recovery and was medically cleared five and a half weeks later. And as fate would have it, it was only week three of Virginia’s spring turkey season.
It wasn’t long before the dewy cool mornings of April lured Jacobus back into the woods. Equipped with specialty game ears and some physical therapy under his belt, Jacobus returned to his childhood home in Doswell to hunt the land he knew best.
Jacobus discovered his first challenge was walking in the dark. When the vestibular system is being retrained, balance is especially difficult when sight is limited. Slowly but steadily, he made his way to a corner of the family property, a reliable spot where the powerline meets the oak trees.
His next feat would be pinpointing birds. After he watched the sunrise and made a few mouth calls, gobblers hammered from multiple directions. The ideal situation, but from where? Minutes felt like hours as Jacobus battled his inner thoughts, debating his instincts from his ears. His senses had been compromised, but the hunter persisted.
Out of sheer muscle memory, Jacobus made one more call and went dead silent, catching his breath and steadying his heart. This sequence would soon pay off as the nearest tom fired off again instantaneously, and this time, in the hunter’s direction. Jacobus knew the bird was coming.
Panning the landscape with his eyes alone, Jacobus caught sight of the top of the gobbler’s fan cresting the knoll and heading straight for his decoys. The moment was here at last. A moment that was once thought lost was now running towards the decoys in full strut. This tom was hot! After watching the bird square up with his jake decoy and circle once, in a state of zen, Jacobus made a perfect lethal shot.
Taylor Jacobus and his post-surgery gobbler.
This shot was sweeter than most as it fell on the six-week anniversary of the hunter’s surgery. It is a feeling and memory he’ll never take for granted or forget. Life, like turkey hunting, will inevitably challenge us all, but this story proves, with a little perseverance, you too can overcome.
Caitlyn Jacobus is the DWR Digital Marketing Manager and proud wife of Taylor Jacobus.
