What Our Patients Say: Brain Tumor Stories

What our Patients Say

Evelyn Schaedel thought Texas was making her feel lightheaded. She had started feeling dizzy shortly after relocating there from the East Coast, and she assumed it was due to the heat and the motion of the ever-present ceiling fans.
Ronald Piscitello was only 47 years old when his life changed completely — not in an instant, but over the course of a long, confusing year. Today he is a changed man, and his wife and family are grateful to have him back after a frightening...
Three years ago, Beth Willey of Marlow, New Hampshire, traded her tech-industry job for a quieter life at home. “I wanted to do something fun,” she says, “and to be home to take care of my elderly parents and my young children. I started a business...
David “Smoky” Wurtzel, 91, of Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, earned his nickname from a prep school teacher as a nod to the lit cigarette the young man always had in his hand. Smoky quit the habit 52 years ago, but he never did give up the nickname —...
After a long day working at an outdoor assignment in summer, the photographer thought she was having a reaction to the heat. “I had two photo shoots scheduled for that day,” says Brittany of the first time she felt the terrible pain in her head. “It...
Rhys Gilyeat, 36, is a New York performer, musician, vocalist, and multidisciplinary artist focusing on illustration and mixed media. When he’s not performing or working on his art, he’s traveling internationally with his partner, Paul. “We’re...
Rod Nordland is an international correspondent at large for The New York Times. In 2019, while covering climate topics in India, he was suddenly diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a malignant brain tumor. He wrote about his experience...
Bradley Weisbord of Boca Raton, Florida, buys and sells horses. Not just any horses, mind you. Bradley works with champion thoroughbred racehorses, the best of the best. He landed in the business after he graduated from college in 2008 right into...
This Texas teenager found relief from relentless head pain after traveling 1500 miles to reach the right neurosurgeons in New York
It came from out of nowhere. Jodi Brooks, 46, a managing partner at Finn Partners, a leading integrated marketing agency, had a sudden seizure while talking on the phone — her vision became fuzzy and words no longer made sense. Then her world went...
Fortunately for Stephanie her tumor was low grade, with a much better prognosis than many other types of gliomas. “When treating brain tumors, we often deal with glioblastoma, which is a more serious matter,” says Dr. Ramakrishna. “But once we saw...
Keith Maloney, 52, of Norwell, Massachusetts, is quite an active guy — he commutes 24 miles each way to work in Boston; spends time with his wife, Lori, and their two daughters; and regularly practices taekwondo. One day, as he was doing some of his...
Renea Zeh, 58, of Brooklyn, NY, is a freelance filmmaker who’s a big fan of feel-good movies. Today she’s living in her own heart-warming story after recovering from brain surgery to remove a meningioma. Thanks to neurosurgeon Rohan Ramakrishna and...
Terry DeLeon, a teacher in Westchester County, New York, was staying late after school one night preparing for a national board certification. The grade-school teacher had just started a new job teaching high school English as a Second Language, and...
Maria Silver had been color blind for pretty much her whole life. Fortunately for her, as a child she wore a uniform to school and didn’t have much trouble getting dressed most days, although she says she always did have difficulty matching socks....
It seemed so trivial that Peter Benson barely remembered to ask his doctor about it at his check-up. For the past six months he’d had a “clogged” feeling in his right ear, as if he were water-logged after swimming. Peter thought it was the remnant...
This nurse knew there were risks in having surgery for her colloid cyst – but when she learned the risks of NOT having it, she put her faith in Dr. Souweidane.
Philip Norton was all too familiar with what it was like to have a child with a serious health issue. For more than a decade, the single father from South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, had devoted himself to keeping his son Braiden healthy and happy,...
As a researcher and clinician, Dr. Richard (Dick) Colletti, pediatric gastroenterologist at the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital, knows how to analyze information, ask pointed questions, and make careful decisions. So when it came time for...
A woman with a debilitating meningioma finds relief – and understanding – at Weill Cornell Medicine
A cheerleader gets a surprising diagnosis after a fall, but is back on her feet in no time after surgery to remove a colloid cyst
By Brenda Ries. Shortly after Sean's fifth birthday, we received unthinkable news.
By Cindy Campbell Ty Louis Campbell was a beautiful baby, then a rambunctious toddler with curly blonde hair and an infectious smile. At two years and ten months old, Ty was the picture of health — no developmental delays, no medical issues — but he...

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