Steven Keating's advocacy for open patient data began with his cancer diagnosis. In 2007, during a volunteer brain study at Queen's University, an MRI revealed a small abnormality in his left frontal lobe, initially deemed insignificant. However, in 2014, while at MIT, he started noticing a faint vinegar smell for several seconds each day. Suspecting a link to the earlier abnormality near the brain's smell center, he sought further medical attention. An MRI showed that the abnormality had grown into a baseball-sized tumor—a low-grade glioma—requiring immediate surgery.