Every expectant mother has doubts. Will she be a good mother? Will she make the same mistakes her mother made? How can she protect her baby from harm? Never do expectant mothers ask what happens if an undiscovered brain tumor threatens both her life and the life of her baby, or whom does she turn to for help.
Well into her seventh month, Kelly Mitchell began experiencing symptoms that were way beyond anything her mother had ever warned her about. Beyond the nausea, daily milkshake cravings, and frequent bathroom visits, she began to encounter severe memory lapses and loss of vision. After visiting numerous doctors and specialists, an MRI revealed a terrifying development. She had a Craniopharyngioma, a benign brain tumor that, while not cancerous, was approximately the size of an avocado. She desperately needed a craniotomy, an hours-long, open brain surgery that would threaten the life of her unborn baby.
In this video, Kelly tells the story of her journey through this terrifying time. She felt her memory slipping away and her vision fading with each passing day. Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Charles Liu, USC Keck School of Medicine, explains the issues surrounding the precise timing necessary for the Pterional Craniotomy to save the lives and quality of life for both mother and baby. Setting the exact date was crucial, and there was virtually no room for error. He worked closely with her OB GYN to determine the earliest possible date to deliver her baby, and leave enough time for surgery before the ever-increasing pressure of the growing tumor caused irreparable brain damage.
This is just one of thirteen videos: true stories of normal, healthy people whose everyday lives were suddenly shattered by catastrophic medical emergencies no one could predict or prepare for. The patients themselves tell their stories of survival with the help of their doctors: the neurologists, neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons of the Keck School of Medicine at USC.
This is the kind of information my wife and I wished we'd had when our daughter’s life was nearly ended by a brain hemorrhage in Scotland in 2007. We spent hours pouring over the Internet scouring all the information we could find on aneurysms and the treatment, coil embolization. Most of what we found was so arcane and technical that we could not truly grasp what was happening. We created these videos for people like us – people who need immediate answers, to urgent questions, in idioms they can easily understand.
With these videos at their fingertips, patients, friends and families dealing with life threatening neurological threats will finally have a place to turn for practical answers that they can understand.
For more information contact USC Neurosurgery.
These videos were conceived and produced by Tony Nino and Suzanne Marks at Pasadena Advertising Marketing Design. The director and DP was James OKeeffe and the editor was Peter Bayer.
In this video, Kelly tells the story of her journey through this terrifying time. She felt her memory slipping away and her vision fading with each passing day. Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Charles Liu, USC Keck School of Medicine, explains the issues surrounding the precise timing necessary for the Pterional Craniotomy to save the lives and quality of life for both mother and baby. Setting the exact date was crucial, and there was virtually no room for error. He worked closely with her OB GYN to determine the earliest possible date to deliver her baby, and leave enough time for surgery before the ever-increasing pressure of the growing tumor caused irreparable brain damage.
This is just one of thirteen videos: true stories of normal, healthy people whose everyday lives were suddenly shattered by catastrophic medical emergencies no one could predict or prepare for. The patients themselves tell their stories of survival with the help of their doctors: the neurologists, neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons of the Keck School of Medicine at USC.
This is the kind of information my wife and I wished we'd had when our daughter’s life was nearly ended by a brain hemorrhage in Scotland in 2007. We spent hours pouring over the Internet scouring all the information we could find on aneurysms and the treatment, coil embolization. Most of what we found was so arcane and technical that we could not truly grasp what was happening. We created these videos for people like us – people who need immediate answers, to urgent questions, in idioms they can easily understand.
With these videos at their fingertips, patients, friends and families dealing with life threatening neurological threats will finally have a place to turn for practical answers that they can understand.
For more information contact USC Neurosurgery.
These videos were conceived and produced by Tony Nino and Suzanne Marks at Pasadena Advertising Marketing Design. The director and DP was James OKeeffe and the editor was Peter Bayer.
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