Marathoner treated with Operation Excellence acquired surgical equipment
Kayla Krahn, mother of a three-year-old, had been getting migraine headaches accompanied by aura symptoms before her condition worsened and an apple-sized tumour was discovered.
Kayla Krahn remembers her first run about three months after surgery at HSC to remove a brain tumour in July 2022.
“I remember running and smiling down Highway 12. I must have had the dorkiest grin on my face,” says the Steinbach resident and accomplished long-distance runner. “I know it sounds dramatic, but I literally thought I was dying for much of 2022. When I could run again, I started to think I would be okay.”
Krahn, mother of a three-year-old, had been getting migraine headaches accompanied by aura symptoms. She didn’t think much of them because migraines run in her family. But the migraines became more frequent and persistent, and her vision became increasingly impaired. Her symptoms worsened and included dizziness and numbness on one side of her body. So, she went to her GP, then an optometrist, then an ophthalmologist. The ophthalmologist suggested she go to the Emergency Department at HSC because there was fluid at the back of her brain pushing on the optic nerves.
“They took a CT scan in Emergency and the doctor came back and knelt down beside me,” recalls Krahn. “He said ‘you can’t go home; we found a large mass in your brain.’”
She met with neurosurgeon Dr. Patrick McDonald who explained to her that her tumour was the size of a Granny Smith apple and it had to be removed. The surgery was scheduled for later in the week. Krahn didn’t know it at the time, but her surgeon would be using the StealthStation S8 Surgical Navigation System, funded by donors to the HSC Foundation’s Operation Excellence campaign.
The unit has been described as a “GPS for the brain” and it allows surgeons to perform their work with maximum precision.
Kayla Krahn’s surgeon used the StealthStation S8 Surgical Navigation System, funded by donors to the HSC Foundation’s Operation Excellence campaign, on her large tumour.
“The use of the Stealth S8 was critical throughout Kayla’s operation. Her tumour was a large one and quite deep in the brain. The S8 image guidance system allowed us to plan her surgery and take the safest approach to get to the tumour,” explains Dr. McDonald. “It allowed us to ensure we were able to remove the entire tumour which was essential for the kind of tumour Kayla’s turned out to be. We use the S8 every day at HSC to make neurosurgery safer and more effective.”
“Her tumour was a large one and quite deep in the brain. The S8 image guidance system allowed us to plan her surgery and take the safest approach to get to the tumour. It allowed us to ensure we were able to remove the entire tumour which was essential for the kind of tumour Kayla’s turned out to be. We use the S8 every day at HSC to make neurosurgery safer and more effective,” explains HSC neurosurgeon Dr. Patrick McDonald.
The delicate surgery lasted 12 hours and she was able to be discharged after just five days, following a bout of post-operative delirium that included vivid nightmares— not uncommon after a long time under anesthetic. The pathology report confirmed that she had a large, grade two, non-malignant ependymoma—a type of brain tumour that would more typically appear in a child. In the following months, she faced some depression and post-traumatic stress disorder which she managed with medical help and through a support group convened by the Brain Tumour Foundation. By the spring of 2023, she started participating in long endurance runs again at least once a month. Krahn will require regular monitoring for the rest of her life, but she is feeling good, feeling strong, and feeling grateful for Dr. McDonald’s expertise, the care she received at HSC, and for the donors whose generosity enabled the removal of her entire tumour.
Watch Krahn’s interview on CTV Morning Live here.
To learn more about the Operation Excellence campaign, and to make an online donation, visit the Operation Excellence website.
