Methodist Dallas Medical Center
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Summer 2014
13
Two sisters are grateful for advanced aneurysm
treatment that saved their lives
A LOOK AT THE FAMILY TREE
Do aneurysms run in your family? Find a physician to refer you to the
Methodist Moody Brain and Spine Institute at
r by calling
214-947-0000
.
On
a June day in 1990, Suzanne Grayson,
Melinda Kianpour, and John Harvey drove
their mother to the airport and wished her a
safe journey to Scotland to visit family.
Unfortunately, those goodbyes were their
last. During the vacation that kicked off
her retirement, Rosemary Harvey suffered a
ruptured brain aneurysm at age 61.
“For 24 years, this hung over our heads,”
Kianpour, 50, says, knowing that aneurysms
can be hereditary, especially in women.
Even migraine headaches brought on fear.
“My mother had migraines occasionally,
so every time I got one, I thought, ‘Uh oh,
this might be it,’” says Grayson, 54.
That’s what happened in February 2013.
Her headache was so bad that she went to
the emergency department at Methodist
Richardson Medical Center, where she
works as director of cardiopulmonary,
neurodiagnostic, and rehabilitation services
and as stroke coordinator. Neurologist Ron
Bell, MD, ordered tests that confirmed
Grayson’s worst fear.
An easy fix for an aneurysm
Dr. Bell referred Grayson to neurosurgeon
Ben Newman, MD, on the Methodist Health
System medical staff and among the few neuro
surgeons in the Metroplex who perform an
advanced procedure called aneurysm coiling.
“While the alternative, surgical clipping,
is safe and effective, it requires full brain
surgery,” Dr. Newman says. “With coiling,
we make one small incision near the groin
and navigate with X-ray imaging to the
brain. Recovery is shorter, and Suzanne
didn’t need to have her head shaved or
deal with facial bruising and swelling.”
Grayson raves about her hospital
experience: “Queen Elizabeth would
not have gotten better care.”
While she was receiving the royal
treatment, her siblings were being tested
for aneurysms.
Three weeks later, while accompanying
Grayson to her follow-up appointment,
Kianpour learned that family history had
struck again: She, too, had an aneurysm —
twice the size of her sister’s.
“Melinda is five years younger than
me with children in grade school,” Grayson
says. “The coiling procedure saved her
life and helped those children keep
their mother.”
A family free from fear
Grayson says she and her sister have
done extremely well, and they were
relieved to learn their brother did not
have an aneurysm.
“It’s a total game changer,” Kianpour
says. “I feel like I’ve won the lottery every
day. The worst fear of my life is gone.
“Anyone with a family history should get
tested. It’s remarkable what they can do now,
and Methodist was incredible.”
Now that the sisters are accessorized
with “brain bling” — as Kianpour calls
the platinum coil — they’re enthusiastic
about coiling being available at both
Methodist Dallas and Methodist
Richardson Medical Centers.
“I lived with worry from age 26 to 49,”
Kianpour says. “Knowing that coiling is
available and convenient and that my kids
won’t have to live with the fear that I did —
that’s priceless.”
“Anyone with a family history should get
tested.”
— Melinda Kianpour
Brain
Melinda Kianpour (left) and Suzanne Grayson,
pictured with their brother, John Harvey, have
a bright future ahead of them. Because they
had aneurysm coiling at Methodist Dallas, they
no longer have to live in fear.
