LAKE STEVENS — Levi Smith felt unsteady.

With good grades, a knack for soccer and basketball and a growing interest in music, the ninth-grader’s future seemed promising, but something wasn’t right. He had trouble standing. During class in Lake Stevens, he felt like was going to topple over.

Yet emergency room doctors said he seemed healthy.

A week later, Smith’s doctor ordered a CT scan. A tumor the size of a golf ball was growing beneath his skull.

The tumor wasn’t cancerous, but because it was close to vital areas of Smith’s brain, surgeons wanted to operate soon.

Over the next few years, Smith spent weeks in the hospital. He endured several surgeries, including a risky 16-hour operation that could have left him paralyzed or deaf. Instead, he temporarily lost his voice and the ability to swallow — not good for an aspiring musician . . .

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