On March 7, 2011, The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic Campus succeeded in saving the life of 28-year-old Kimberly Mountain after the discovery of a cancerous tumour in her brain.
Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Charles Agbi, would keep her awake during the five-hour operation to remove as much of the tumour as possible.
The procedure, which was far less common back then, allows surgeons to speak with their patient throughout the surgery. As a result, they can better ensure the correct area of the brain is being treated, thereby avoiding impact to the areas that control vision, movement, and/or speech. By keeping Kimberly conscious, the medical team could ask her to move certain body parts and to speak … or even sing!
In fact, during the operation, Kimberly shared with the surgical team her ideal vacation destinations — Disney World and Hawaii — and even sang the Lion King classic Hakuna Matata, which is a Swahili phrase that captures a “problem free” attitude.
Such transformational care, through advances in technology, have also allowed surgeons to perform fluorescence-guided surgery. It uses fluorescence imaging to light up cancerous tissue, allowing surgeons to completely remove tumours in patients.
Kimberly’s surgery was followed by radiation and chemotherapy treatments to kill her remaining cancer. Less than a year after her initial diagnosis, Kimberly was declared cancer free. “Even if the cancer does come back, I am confident that The Ottawa Hospital will be able to save me again, thanks to its constant innovative research and clinical trials that are making treatment better and saving lives,” said Kimberly.
