With all the gloom-and-doom going around, a bit of this goes a long way 
10 years ago, an Ontario doctor operated on a little girl's brain. Now, she works alongside him
A neurosurgeon who performed life-saving brain surgery on a 10-year-old patient a decade ago said it's surreal to work alongside her in his lab this summer.
"I had to keep pinching myself to say – is this the child I had operated on 10 years ago?" Dr. James Rutka, a neurosurgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children, told CTV News Toronto.
His former patient and current research student Jessica Rosenbloom arrived in the emergency room of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children almost 10 years ago, and by chance, Rutka was on a call.
"He took my case on from that point on," Rosenbloom said, only recently transitioning out of his hands and graduating from SickKids.
At 10, Rosenbloom was diagnosed with a brain tumour approximately the size of a tangerine, located in the pineal region of her brain, a "delicate location," according to Rutka.
After a couple weeks of chemotherapy, Rosenbloom was rushed back to the emergency room with what appeared to be a stroke. She was told her tumour – previously characterized as inoperable – would require an operation.
The surgery took four to six hours. "Any ventures in that region have to be taken with the greatest amount of precision," Rutka explained....
10 years ago, an Ontario doctor operated on a little girl's brain. Now, she works alongside him
A neurosurgeon who performed life-saving brain surgery on a 10-year-old patient a decade ago said it's surreal to work alongside her in his lab this summer.
"I had to keep pinching myself to say – is this the child I had operated on 10 years ago?" Dr. James Rutka, a neurosurgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children, told CTV News Toronto.
His former patient and current research student Jessica Rosenbloom arrived in the emergency room of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children almost 10 years ago, and by chance, Rutka was on a call.
"He took my case on from that point on," Rosenbloom said, only recently transitioning out of his hands and graduating from SickKids.
At 10, Rosenbloom was diagnosed with a brain tumour approximately the size of a tangerine, located in the pineal region of her brain, a "delicate location," according to Rutka.
After a couple weeks of chemotherapy, Rosenbloom was rushed back to the emergency room with what appeared to be a stroke. She was told her tumour – previously characterized as inoperable – would require an operation.
The surgery took four to six hours. "Any ventures in that region have to be taken with the greatest amount of precision," Rutka explained....
It's easy to forget that there is still a lot of good going on in the world, often by ordinary people just doing their job and sometimes, as in this case, with unexpected results.
