What Our Patients Say: Brain Tumor Stories

What our Patients Say

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 —...
At age 79, Barbara Rothenberg is the matriarch of a large, tightknit family. She presides over eight successful children — seven lawyers and a pediatric nurse practitioner — as well as 50 grandkids and 17 great-grandchildren. As the managing partner...
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...
Karen Heimann, 62, a homemaker in New York City, spent her time doing “typical New York things” — visiting museums and art galleries, reading and watching movies, and taking care of Augie, her Irish Jack Russell Terrier. During the early days of the...
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...
Lauren Babjak, better known to her more than 300,000 YouTube subscribers as “eLL cartoons,” is a 30-year-old animator from Tinton Falls, New Jersey. Based on her lighthearted stories, you wouldn’t think she’d recently faced an ordeal fewer than 1...
Eneida Ramos, 39, has a full, active life. At any given moment she may be found volunteering, painting, working on her DIY projects, or cuddling her baby boy. Nothing about her cheery demeanor would suggest that until recently her life had been on “...
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...
To say it was a bad trip would be an understatement. Adam Carroll, 33, was in New York on business when he suddenly lost consciousness. “I was rushed to hospital—and not sure what happened,” he recalls, “but I woke up surrounded by paramedics.”...
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 Theodore H. Schwartz, M.D. In July 2009 I met a new patient, a writer named Peter Hyman.  It’s not often that a neurosurgeon is faced with the prospect of operating on such a thoughtful, articulate, and inquisitive patient, which may be why I...
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...

Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery 525 East 68 Street, Box 99 New York, NY 10065 Phone: 866-426-7787