Angelina Moore, of Roswell, Georgia, began losing vision in her right eye in November 2023. She visited her eye doctor, then saw an ophthalmologist for several months.
“My peripheral vision in my right eye was nearly gone, and I couldn’t clearly make out a person’s face,” Angelina said.
Despite numerous tests and exams, her vision continued to worsen.
In summer 2024, Angelina was referred to Dr. Nancy Weiner, a neuro-ophthalmologist with Northside Hospital. Dr. Weiner conducted further tests and confirmed the problem was not with the eye itself. She ordered a brain MRI.
Within three hours of the MRI, Angelina received a phone call from the office of Dr. James Robinson, a neurosurgeon in the same practice as Dr. Weiner. His nurse practitioner, Maggie, told Angelina she had an extremely large tumor on the left side of her brain. While it was likely benign, it was causing cerebrospinal fluid to accumulate in her brain, resulting in hydrocephalus.
Dr. Robinson, who was vacationing with his family at the time, also called Angelina directly to advise her to head to Northside Hospital Atlanta for immediate admission. The hospital’s neurology department would be expecting her, and she was admitted that day.
“Dr. Robinson said people can die quickly from cerebrospinal fluid buildup, and he wasn’t taking that chance,” Angelina said. “He would fly back to Atlanta that night to perform surgery the next morning. Things happened so quickly I didn’t have time to worry."
"I had already been told that Dr. Robinson was the best brain surgeon around, and then he sacrificed his family time for me," Angelina added. "I trusted him completely from the first minute.”
At 6 a.m. the next day, Angelina was taken to the operating room where she met Dr. Robinson in person for the first time. He performed surgery to release the fluid in her brain. Angelina felt immediate relief after that surgery.
A few weeks later, she had a catheter-based procedure to reduce blood flow to the tumor and minimize bleeding ahead of its removal. That fall, Dr. Robinson performed an 11-hour surgery to remove the baseball-sized tumor. Because it had grown into Angelina’s skull, he also removed part of her skull and used fat from her right hip to form a new protective barrier.
Dr. Robinson successfully removed most of the tumor, but a small portion was too entwined with blood vessels to extract safely. The tumor was a meningioma — a very slow-growing mass that Dr. Robinson predicted may have been growing for over 20 years.
“In hindsight, my health had been declining for at least two years,” Angelina said. “Besides my vision problems, I felt myself getting weaker and slowing down. I was unable to compete like I used to on the pickleball court. I experienced some debilitating headaches, balance issues, weakness and insomnia. I felt unwell many days.”
Angelina’s recovery has been steady. Her two sisters helped care for her while her husband returned to work, a time that strengthened their family bond. She now has an MRI every six months to monitor the remaining tumor. So far, it has shown no growth, but if it does, she has the option to undergo Gamma Knife® radiosurgery.
Dr. Weiner monitors Angelina’s vision every three months, and while it is slowly improving, only time will tell if it will ever fully return.
Overall, Angelina is feeling much better — no more headaches, and she is regaining strength and stamina. With improved health, she is excited to be able to truly enjoy her grandkids again.
“I look forward to being able to chase them at the park, swim with them and cheer at their baseball games,” she said. “And when I play pickleball now, I’m more competitive again!”
“I hope to never go through that again,” she added. “But, if I do, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than at Northside Hospital with Dr. Robinson.
“I am deeply grateful for the excellent care I’ve received.”
Learn more about the Northside Hospital Cancer Institute Brain Tumor Program.
*The health story shared here is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Patients should consult with their own physician before making medical decisions.
