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.

At the Mount Sinai Queens Cerebrovascular Stroke Center opening, from left: Argero “Roula” Siklas, Program Officer, Stavros Niarchos Foundation; Michael E. Minikes, Vice Chair, Mount Sinai Health System Boards of Trustees; J Mocco, MD, MS, Vice Chair, Neurosurgery, Mount Sinai Health System; Caryn A. Schwab, Executive Director, Mount Sinai Queens; David L. Reich, MD, President, The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens; Howard A. Zucker, MD, JD, New York State Commissioner of Health; and Costa Constantinides, New York City Council member, 22nd District.

The New York State Commissioner of Health, Howard A. Zucker, MD, JD, and New York City Council member Costa Constantinides were among the esteemed guests at a special celebration as Mount Sinai Queens unveiled its world-class Cerebrovascular Stroke Center, officially establishing a new model of stroke care in the nation.

The opening of the Stroke Center on Wednesday, June 19, also kicked off festivities marking the 20th anniversary of Mount Sinai Queens becoming a part of The Mount Sinai Hospital. “Even 20 years ago, we had a vision that Mount Sinai Queens would be a great hospital in its own right,” Caryn A. Schwab, Executive Director, Mount Sinai Queens, told the standing-room-only audience. “This is a glorious way to begin our 20th anniversary celebration.” Added Michael E. Minikes, Vice Chair of the Mount Sinai Health System Boards of Trustees: “This is a most exciting time and a stunning achievement. This is a top-of-the-line Stroke Center.”

Mount Sinai Queens intends to vastly improve the speed and efficiency of stroke diagnosis and treatment, including the most devastating form of stroke, emergent large vessel occlusion (ELVO), which occurs when there is a blood clot in a major artery in the brain. Stroke may cause severe symptoms in the patient and, when not diagnosed or treated quickly, may result in severe disabilities or even death.

“Every passing minute that blood flow to the brain is blocked, about 2 million neurons die,” said J Mocco, MD, MS, Professor of Neurosurgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Vice Chair of Neurosurgery for the Mount Sinai Health System, and Director of the Health System’s Cerebrovascular Center.

Dr. Mocco led the effort to establish the Mount Sinai Queens Cerebrovascular Stroke Center, which has specially designed equipment that is unique in the United States. It permits the stroke team to rapidly conduct a CT scan, and then an angiogram, to precisely locate the clot, and then perform an endovascular procedure known as a thrombectomy—all in one room, and while the patient remains on the same table.

“The patient doesn’t have to go down multiple halls, or through multiple doors, and they don’t need to be transferred from a stretcher to a bed multiple times before they get their treatment,” said Dr. Mocco.

J Mocco, MD, MS, center, with Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai faculty, from left: Hazem Shoirah, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Radiology, and Director of Thrombectomy Services in Queens; Stanley Tuhrim, MD, Professor and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Neurology, and Director, Comprehensive Stroke Center, The Mount Sinai Hospital; and Reade A. De Leacy, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, and Radiology, and Director of Cerebrovascular Services, Mount Sinai Queens; and Danny Hom, RT, Administrative Director, Mount Sinai Queens Cerebrovascular Stroke Center.

Thrombectomy is the gold standard of care for most ELVO strokes. It requires the expertise of a highly specialized neuroendovascular surgeon who guides a catheter through an artery in the groin or wrist to the brain and uses suction and/or a stent to remove the clot and quickly restore blood flow to the patient’s brain, often eliminating or minimizing brain damage. The goal, Dr. Mocco said, is to drastically reduce the time between hospital arrival, diagnosis, and the start of the clot removal.

“This is cutting-edge medicine,” said David L. Reich, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens. “Mount Sinai Queens has changed the paradigm of medicine and shown what a community hospital can do.”

Dr. Zucker and Mr. Constantinides, who represents the 22nd District, joined the celebration as a show of support for effective and efficient stroke care. Dr. Zucker acknowledged that New York State is a national leader in stroke care and congratulated Mount Sinai Queens. “This is really about leadership and vision—this is big vision,” he said. Mr. Constantinides helped secure funding from the City Council for the specialized equipment. Mount Sinai Queens also received significant support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for the newly named Stavros Niarchos Foundation Advanced Thrombectomy Suite, where stroke diagnosis and treatment take place.

“Only about 10 percent of people who have this kind of stroke ever even get a chance at this therapy because patients don’t have access to treatment where they live,” said Dr. Mocco. “Conservative estimates suggest there are about 600 patients a year in Queens who have one of these emergent large vessel occlusion strokes. Those patients now have access to treatment that will not only save lives but rapidly restore function so they are able to live their best lives.”