August 2, 2019: Gregory M. Levitin, MD, with baby Noor Nunez, and her mother, Rania Al-Mutairi; father, Joe Nunez; and brother Omar Nunez, 10 days after the July 23, 2019, surgery.

It first appeared as a small rash a few weeks after Noor Nunez was born in 2018 in Kuwait, where she lives with her three older siblings, her Saudi mother, Rania Al-Mutairi, and American father, Joe Nunez. The red mark on her skin, however, was not a rash, but a bright red hemangioma, a benign tumor caused by an abnormal cluster of small blood vessels on or under the surface of the skin. As it grew, it looked as though baby Noor had a small tomato in the middle of her face—located right between her eyes.

Doctors in Kuwait, however, didn’t seem to know how to treat it. They told her parents that it was superficial, and they prescribed topical creams, assuring them it would go away. When it kept growing in size and thickness—and people had started pointing and staring at Noor—her father, a contractor based in Kuwait with the U.S. Army, became determined to find treatment, even if it meant leaving the country.

When Noor was about 5 months old, and as the hemangioma continued to grow, Mr. Nunez started to research treatment options online. “I knew we had to do something to correct this, or it would affect her for the rest of her life,” he says. “I started contacting centers specializing in vascular birthmarks all over the world, but few doctors responded.” However, when he sent an email to Gregory M. Levitin, MD, Director of the Vascular Birthmark and Malformations Program at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, Dr. Levitin replied immediately.

January 2019: Baby Noor, left, with the growing hemangioma. November 2019: Four months after surgery: the hemangioma will continue to shrink and fade.

After reviewing the photos that Mr. Nunez had sent, Dr. Levitin knew he could help Noor. In late July 2019, around the time of Noor’s first birthday, the Nunez family traveled to New York Eye and Ear for surgery. Dr. Levitin, who is also Senior Faculty in Ear, Nose and Throat (Otolaryngology)–Head and Neck Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is a nationally recognized expert in the diagnosis and management of hemangiomas and vascular birthmarks.

Hemangiomas typically begin to appear one to three weeks after birth and often fade with time. However in Noor’s case, the hemangioma was so large and deep that it blocked almost half of her eye’s visual field and distorted the bridge of her nose. It was so deep that 90 percent of it was below the surface of the skin. Due to its location and size, it was one of the most challenging hemangioma cases Dr. Levitin says he has ever encountered.

“It was highly vascular, so there was concern about excessive bleeding, and it was in the middle of her face near her eyes, so we had to find the precise place to make an incision in order to debulk the tumor without leaving her disfigured,” recalls Dr. Levitin. “In the end, we placed the incision within the shadow line between her eyebrow and her eye—then, millimeter by millimeter, we carefully removed each feeding blood vessel in a three-hour surgery during which she lost no more than three teaspoons of blood.”

Due to the complexity of the case, the hemangioma could not be removed in its entirety without risking complications or skin grafts, but Dr. Levitin was still able to remove more than 80 percent of the tumor, leaving Noor’s eyes and eyebrows symmetrical, restoring her nose, and significantly improving her appearance. The family regularly shares updates with Dr. Levitin on the hemangioma as it continues to shrink and fade; however, Noor will likely return to New York Eye and Ear this year for two laser treatments to reduce the redness and improve the texture of the hemangioma. According to Dr. Levitin, “In two or three years—maybe less—she will appear almost normal.”

Dr. Levitin fully understands how the family was willing to do everything they could for Noor. “I became passionate about this specialty when one of my twin daughters was born with a disfiguring hemangioma,” he says. “As a head and neck surgeon, and as a parent, I knew I could give other patients the medical expertise and the attentive care they need during a difficult time. I feel like my patients are part of my extended family.”

Beyond the successful surgery, Mr. Nunez says his family was additionally impressed with the caring staff at New York Eye and Ear. “My wife was floored by the treatment Noor got,” says Mr. Nunez. “Watching how the nurses and staff treat patients and their families, it was beautiful to see,” he says.

Robin Glazer, Director of The Creative Center at University Settlement, back row, center, helped celebrate the artists, who included, front row, from left: Regina Scudellari-Ponemon, Barbara Polinsky, Cibele Vieira, and Desi Minchillo; and back row, from left: Marika Hahn, Sascha Mallon, Helen Dennis, and Nikki Schiro.

During an appreciation luncheon held on Wednesday, November 13, Mount Sinai Health System leadership, along with faculty and staff, celebrated nine talented artists who work at Mount Sinai through The Creative Center at University Settlement’s Hospital Artist-in-Residence Program providing art experiences to oncology patients and their caregivers as they receive treatment.

The event included vivid and inspiring stories about care and compassion, and the powerful impact art has on enhancing the patient and staff experience. The lunch, held in the Annenberg Center for Innovation and Discovery, was hosted by Sinai Spotlight, a Health System employee recognition and appreciation program sponsored by the Division of Talent Development & Learning, in partnership with the Mount Sinai Health System Office of Development.

The artists work in various locations throughout the Health System—both bedside and at outpatient units—helping patients, and even their visitors, to momentarily turn a traumatic, frightening, or overwhelming experience into one of joy, life, and positivity through art.

Artist Sascha Mallon, who has participated in the program for nine years, meets with inpatients at the bone marrow transplantation center and outpatients at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Ms. Mallon says she first determines their eagerness to participate, and then, their preferences.

“They make macramé and jewelry. They sculpt and paint. I find out what is exciting for them,” says Ms. Mallon. “I don’t see the illness—the doctors and nurses do. I see the healthy part of the patient, the strong part, the happy part.”

The team involved in the treatment and care of patient Jeannie Gaffigan included, from left: Colleen Geary, OTR/L, Rehabilitation Specialist in Occupational Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance; Jeffrey T. Gilligan, MD, Neurosurgery Resident (PGY-5); Neha S. Dangayach, MD, MSCR; Robert J. Rothrock, MD, Chief Neurosurgery Resident (PGY-6); Leslie C. Schlachter, PA-C; Joshua B. Bederson, MD; Kurt A. Yaeger, MD, Neurosurgery Resident (PGY-5); Johanna T. Fifi, MD, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Radiology, and Associate Director, Cerebrovascular Center; Joseph Waugh, NP, Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit; and Holly E. Oemke, Program Manager, Neurosurgery Simulation Core.

In 2017, Jeannie Gaffigan, a popular director, producer, and comedy writer, urgently needed to consult with a neurosurgeon. An MRI had revealed that the seemingly harmless symptoms that she had been experiencing, and ignoring for at least a year—including headaches, dizzy spells, and loss of hearing in one ear—were the result of a massive, life-threatening brain tumor, pushing against her brainstem. Ms. Gaffigan, the mother of five children with her husband, comedian Jim Gaffigan, feared she was going to die.

Joshua B. Bederson, MD, Professor and Chair of Neurosurgery for the Mount Sinai Health System, reassured her that he could perform complex surgery and safely remove the tumor. In a 10-hour operation, Dr. Bederson and his team—relying on years of experience combined with advanced augmented reality technologies—were able to precisely see the brain’s delicate structures, allowing Dr. Bederson to systematically separate each of the nerves and myriad blood vessels from the 6-cm pear-shaped choroid plexus papilloma, a rare type of slow-growing benign tumor.

Now, in a book that was released this month, When Life Gives You Pears, Ms. Gaffigan recounts—with characteristic humor—her extraordinary medical journey at Mount Sinai, acknowledging those who provided her with expert and compassionate care.

Jeannie Gaffigan

“There are many people involved with a patient’s neurosurgical care beyond the surgeon,” says Dr. Bederson. “In Jeannie’s case, she was helped not only by me and my immediate team, but also by neuroendovascular surgeons, neurocritical care staff, pulmonologists, otolaryngologists, physiatrists, physical therapists, and others.”

Leslie C. Schlachter, PA-C, the Department of Neurosurgery’s Chief Physician Assistant and Clinical Director, played a significant role in guiding Ms. Gaffigan through the surgical process and coordinating care across specialties. “Our relationship continues to this day with intermittent text messages where I assure her that she is on the road to an excellent recovery,” says Ms. Schlachter.

After surgery, Ms. Gaffigan spent a period of time in The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit (NSICU), and she later required more hospitalization and a prolonged period of rehabilitation.

Says Neha S. Dangayach, MD, MSCR, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, and Neurology, and Co-Director of the NSICU, “Because Jeannie’s surgery was very complex, she required extensive neurocritical care to help her embark on the perfect trajectory for a successful recovery.” Dr. Dangayach adds, “I commend Jeannie for being a great team player, for her sense of humor, and exceptional patience with us. I also commend our team of neurointensivists, fellows, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, specialty-trained nurses, and rehabilitation specialists for providing her exceptional care throughout her weeks-long stay.”

Jeannie Gaffigan with Joshua B. Bederson, MD, Professor and Chair of Neurosurgery, Mount Sinai Health System, the surgeon she credits with saving her life. Click here to watch Jeannie Gaffigan and Dr. Bederson on CBS Sunday Morning

From the moment her doctor told her a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan had revealed a large mass in her brain, Jeannie Gaffigan found her life filled with fear and anxiety—until she and her husband walked into The Mount Sinai Hospital and the office of Joshua B. Bederson, MD, Professor and Chair of Neurosurgery, Mount Sinai Health System.

Dr. Bederson and his staff quickly confirmed that she had a massive, life-threatening, benign pear-shaped tumor at the base of her skull that was severely compressing her brainstem. Just as important, they offered her a plan and a team of top-notch doctors and staff to whom she would entrust her life.

“We had hit the jackpot,” she writes of the team at Mount Sinai in her new book “When Life Gives You Pears,” in which she recounts her journey from sickness to health and the role that humor, faith, and family—plus her extended medical team—played in her recovery.

Watch: Jeannie and Jim Gaffigan tell their story on CBS Sunday Morning

Days after that first visit, Dr. Bederson removed the tumor during a 10-hour operation, one in which Dr. Bederson and his team relied on years of experience, combined with innovative augmented reality technology to systematically separate each of the nerves and myriad blood vessels from the tumor. By working above and below these nerves within the tumor and along the brainstem, eventually a complete removal of the tumor was accomplished.

Now, two years later, Jeannie Gaffigan, 49, a director, producer, and comedy writer and the wife of comedian Jim Gaffigan, is back to normal and savoring the simple pleasures of her life as a mother of five young children, still very grateful for the exceptional care she received from Dr. Bederson and many others at Mount Sinai.

“Every single person who has touched my life here has been an angel, and I just am so thankful for this institution,” she said during an emotional speech last year at a Mount Sinai fund-raising event. “Every single person who I’ve been treated by has been like the best and the top of their profession. I thank you, my husband thanks you, my five children thank you.”

In fact, she begins the acknowledgements at the end of her book by thanking by name a dozen Mount Sinai doctors, specialists, and staff members who cared for her in the weeks after surgery.

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Her story also contains an important lesson: For at least a year, she had ignored a number of seemingly harmless symptoms, including headaches, dizzy spells, and loss of hearing in one ear. Otherwise, doctors might have found the tumor at an earlier stage, before it grew to about six centimeters, which could have reduced some of the complications and side effects from the surgery.

She had dismissed her symptoms as the result of her hectic life, mixing a career in entertainment with caring for young children. “I just compartmentalized all my symptoms because I was so busy,” she said in an interview as part of Mount Sinai’s Road to Resilience podcast. “So I just made them all their own separate things. So separately they seemed like little, mild annoyances.”

She might have continued to ignore her symptoms if not for the Gaffigan family’s physician, according to the book. During a routine checkup for her kids, Jeannie Gaffigan couldn’t hear something the doctor said. The doctor asked how long she had had trouble hearing. All Jeannie Gaffigan could say was that it had been a while. The doctor urged her to go a specialist. An ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist confirmed she was deaf in her left ear. Not seeing anything wrong with her ear during an examination, the doctor ordered an MRI on the chance there might be some obstruction deep inside the ear. The MRI showed a large mass in her brain.

At that point, she needed to see a neurosurgeon quickly. A dear cousin urged her to go to Mount Sinai. After a call from her ENT doctor, she had an appointment with Dr. Bederson, who was able to see her immediately, joined by his senior physician assistant Leslie Schlachter, PA-C, Clinical Director of Neurosurgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Looking at her MRI scan, Dr. Bederson said the tumor had probably been growing for years and was pushing against her brainstem, leading to a range of symptoms she had been feeling. Immediate brain surgery was needed to remove the tumor.

“I have just one question: Am I going to die?” she asked Dr. Bederson. Dr. Bederson said no. His response “was all that I needed. I knew everything else was going to be okay,” she writes in her book. (After the surgery, Dr. Bederson would diagnose the tumor as a choroid plexus papilloma, a rare type of slow-growing, non-cancerous (benign) tumor.)

A family photo of the Gaffigans

The surgery marked the beginning of a lengthy recovery, with her husband leading her caregiver team. Immediately afterwards, she spent about two weeks in the intensive care unit at The Mount Sinai Hospital, and then several more weeks in the hospital. She could not eat or drink because the surgery had left her unable to swallow. She left the hospital with a feeding tube, which was removed months later. Thanks to speech and swallow therapy, she has regained the ability to talk and eat.

Despite her personal ordeal, Jeannie Gaffigan is expecting something good to come out of her experience.

She had not intended to write a book; it began as notes she kept for herself. She hopes it may help others. “It’s not a textbook, but it’s something I wish that I had read going into this,” she told Mount Sinai’s podcast team.

And she and her husband have launched a campaign to help Dr. Bederson and Mount Sinai’s Department of Neurosurgery purchase the latest equipment for his operating room. Their fundraising goal: $500,000.

Charlotte Vrod, left, an aspiring tennis player, at the US Open with Alexis Chiang Colvin, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Mount Sinai who helped Charlotte get back on the court after tearing her ACL.

It’s one of those diagnoses every young athlete, and their parents, fear: A torn ACL—the anterior cruciate ligament, one of the major ligaments in the knee.

The injury can happen to young athletes who play sports that involve twisting, turning, jumping, and rapid changes in direction, such as soccer, basketball, football, and tennis.

“We are seeing a trend with so many more kids playing sports these days,” said Alexis Chiang Colvin, MD, Associate Professor of Sports Medicine in the Leni and Peter W. May Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Colvin is also the Chief Medical Officer of the US Open and team physician for the US Fed Cup team. Mount Sinai is the official medical services provider of the USTA Eastern Section and the US Open.

Charlotte Vrod had a classic case of an ACL tear. An advanced junior tennis player, 14-year-old Charlotte was doing some intensive conditioning work at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York where she was training. During a drill, she sprinted and then stopped suddenly. That’s when she heard and felt a pop, and felt her left knee cave in. She could barely walk. Her trainer could immediately see something was wrong.

Charlotte and her mother chose to return to Mount Sinai for her knee injury where she had had previous orthopedic care. She saw Dr. Colvin, who discussed treatment options with her and her mother. Ultimately, they decided to proceed with ACL reconstruction in order to allow her to pursue her dream of playing college tennis. Without surgery, Charlotte would have trouble even playing tennis for fun, according to Dr. Colvin.

A week later, she had the surgery to reconstruct the ACL—a ligament which provides stability in the knee—and to repair the meniscus, a pad that forms a cushion between the bones of the knee. One reason she and her family picked Dr. Colvin was knowing that she had worked with some of the world’s top tennis players at the US Open.

After eight months of rehabilitation, Charlotte, now 15, has resumed playing tennis. She’s optimistic about the future, and so is Dr. Colvin, who visited with her at the US Open this year.

“The amazing thing about Charlotte is her attitude. From day one, she’s been so positive,” said Dr. Colvin, who specializes in the surgical treatment of knee, shoulder, and hip disorders and has extensive experience in treating athletes. “It has been a long road for her. But she has always rolled with the punches. Now I am seeing her on the US Open grounds as a spectator. I hope to see her in a couple of years playing on the courts.”

For Charlotte, who began playing tennis when she was five years old, the recovery period has been an opportunity to appreciate how much she enjoys tennis and how fortunate she is that she can expect to return to the game. But the recovery has required a commitment to physical therapy and a change in attitude.

“One thing I learned is that it’s okay to take a minute and stop playing because you need to take care of yourself,” she said. “Even though I was really into tennis, I had to stop. I will get back to it.”

In fact, she came to enjoy the physical therapy and working with a personal trainer on targeted strength and conditioning for tennis.

“It was hard, but surprisingly it was actually a lot of fun,” she said. “PT was always something I looked forward to. I went three times a week before school.”

Now she’s looking forward to returning in the fall to playing varsity tennis at Trevor Day School in New York City. Then she hopes to resume training at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy and playing in some USTA tournaments in New York and New Jersey. She says she’s a bit emotional about it.

“I am not going to lie. Recovery was hard both mentally and physically, but it was all worth it because I learned so much from this journey,” she said. “It was hard in the beginning because the courts felt so far away, but I got my head into the game and just put everything I had into recovery and self-care. As I was working harder and passing milestones, like starting to walk again without crutches or even when I was able to bend my leg an extra five degrees, it made recovery so much easier and made the courts seem closer than ever.”

Saadi Ghatan, MD, and Sadie Gonzalez before her surgery.

Episode 2 of a new Netflix docu-series titled “Diagnosis” focuses on seven-year-old Sadie Gonzalez from Queens, who suddenly began suffering seizures. Doctors at one New York hospital give her the devastating diagnosis of Rasmussen’s encephalitis and tell her parents the only option is a damaging and irreversible brain surgery that would leave her paralyzed over half her body.

When her parents seek a second opinion  at The Mount Sinai Hospital with Saadi Ghatan, MD, director of the Pediatric Neurosurgery Program for the Mount Sinai Health System, and Lara Marcuse, MD, co-director of the Mount Sinai Epilepsy Program and Associate Professor of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, they learn there is another option.

Dr. Ghatan, who is also Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine, suggests that a less-invasive surgery is possible—a responsive neurostimulator (RNS) system, a small, implantable neurostimulator connected to tiny wires that are placed in specific seizure onset areas of the brain to deliver electrical stimulation that normalizes the disturbed brain circuitry causing the seizures. He explains that similar to a pacemaker that monitors and responds to heart rhythms, the RNS system will monitor and “learn” her seizure patterns, then deliver electrical stimulation to stop them in their tracks.

Lara Marcuse, MD

The episode follows Sadie’s and her family’s journey through the decision-making process and successful surgery at Mount Sinai.

Although Rasmussen’s encephalitis is an incurable condition and it may be six months to a year before physicians know if the device is successfully helping her, early results look promising.

The seven-part Netflix series is based on the long-running New York Times Magazine column titled “Diagnosis.”Watch the trailer and learn more about the series here. Read more about the series in an article in USA Today.