My sweet friend Mody recently underwent surgery on her brain to remove a pituitary adenoma tumor. Mody is also 22 weeks pregnant with her first child—a baby girl.

After a tough time with pneumonia, she couldn't shake the symptoms. For a long time, she has experienced migraines but thought nothing of it. More recently, she began experiencing brain fog, seizures, vision loss, and more frequent and intense migraines. Her concerns were repeatedly dismissed by her doctor until she found herself being rushed to UVA via ambulance after another doctor found the tumor and saw it was bleeding, causing her intense symptoms.

After weighing all considerations of risk to the baby and to Mody, it was decided to quickly remove the tumor as the best option to mitigate risk to both. This baby has lived in Mody’s dreams for a long time now, and has been her focus through this whole ordeal.

Mody is in a lot of pain, but she and baby girl are doing well, but will need time to fully recover. The full financial impact is yet to be known, but Mody will be in the hospital at least another week, with frequent visits to UVA until baby is born.

If you know Mody, you know how tough it is for her to sit still and ask for help, but I believe she is someone who deserves our support, and know she would do the same for another in her position! Please join me in supporting her and her family through this unexpected challenge!