Girl survives brain surgery, issues special invitation

Most seniors invite family members and maybe a few friends to their high school graduation. But Brittany Brooks is no ordinary student, and hers is no ordinary story. 

Brittany’s invitation list for her graduation from Cane Bay High School in Summerville, South Carolina included the neurosurgeon who helped save her life, Alejandro Spiotta, M.D.

Her mother, Jean Brooks, put it this way. “We didn’t think that she would be here graduating and doing amazingly well. She shouldn’t have been here.”

On Feb. 27, Brooks was awakened in the middle of the night by her 17-year-old daughter telling her that her head hurt. At first, Brooks thought Brittany was having a seizure because she has had those since she was a child. But Brooks quickly saw this was something more serious. 

“She came in my room at about 1 a.m. and was asking me to rub her head. I went to go get her some Tylenol, and by the time I came back she had passed out. She started murmuring math problems and throwing up, and that’s when we decided to go to the hospital,” said Brooks. 

Brittany was referred from Trident Health System to MUSC Medical Center because of the complexity of the aneurysm. 

Spiotta said his teenage patient was in really bad shape when she came in. “We know most of the people in neuro at Trident, some of them are my neighbors, so they called my cell phone that night and we were able to get here quickly,” he said. 

Brittany had a ruptured arteriovenous malformation, also known as AVM. A tangle of abnormal blood vessels connecting arteries in her brain caused life-threatening bleeding.

“We did four different surgeries on her that day from 4 a.m. until 5 p.m. She had a really large bleed on the left side of her brain, which controls speech and motor.” 

Spiotta said they used a balloon-augmented onyx embolization technique to fix the AVM. “We have championed this technique here at MUSC Health. The technique provides more effective, complete and faster embolization of AVMs. In Brittany’s case, it was critical to the success of her treatment, as was the availability of having endovascular and surgical expertise.”

After the massive bleed and complex surgery, Spiotta said that the left side of her brain had suffered so much damage that Brittany was left unable to walk or talk for a week. 

“But then, a month later she came back and when I walked in I could hardly recognize her because of how well she was doing. I walked in and she gave me a look and said, ‘Why did you cut my hair?’” said Spiotta.

He and his funny, determined young patient bonded, and the neurosurgeon’s team bought Brittany a Starbucks gift card to say sorry for the surgical shave that had been necessary but not exactly a high school student’s idea of a good haircut. 

Brittany’s mother said Spiotta wasn’t just good with her daughter. He made a point of treating her entire family with respect and compassion. “The times that we’ve met him he’s just been very kind and up front. Even when he was in and out of surgery with Brittany, he was very thoughtful and considerate about our feelings and helped us understand what was going on. His team is just amazing,” she said. 

So Spiotta was one of the first people the Brookses thought of when the time came for Brittany’s high school graduation. “We invited him because he’s a huge part of why she is where she is right now. He saved her life,” said Brooks. 

Spiotta was honored. “It was pretty neat when we learned she was going to graduate. She had sent us one of her senior portraits and a coffee mug with a Superman logo, which I still have in my office.” 

Brittany’s recovery comes at a time when doctors, including Spiotta, are reaching out to AVM patients across the state. The neurosurgeon has helped start a support group for aneurysm and AVM patients. 

“This is the first one in South Carolina,” Spiotta said.” Each group will be led by a patient, and the idea is to have lectures from physicians to educate people and give them the support they have been missing.” The Brain Aneurysm and AVM Support Group of Charleston with the Joe Niekro Foundation meets the second Wednesday of each month at MUSC. 

Brittany is attending physical therapy and speech therapy at MUSC Health, and she’s also involved with vocational rehabilitation.

Whatever the future holds, Brittany is ready to tackle it head on, just like she did her high school graduation. “They were worried about it, but I thought, ‘No, I’m going to go’."