First in the Southeast and fourth in the nation to host Leksell Gamma Knife®, Piedmont Hospital recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.

To mark the occasion, a reception was held at the hospital on Wednesday, September 23, honoring the 2,290 patients with malignant and non-malignant brain tumors and functional brain disorders who have received Gamma Knife surgery at the hospital’s Gamma Knife center. During the reception, an award was presented on behalf of Elekta to the staff of Piedmont Hospital by Senior Vice President of Elekta Neuroscience, Mark Symons.

Piedmont Hospital Group

Five patients in particular were honored at the event, including Bill Reynolds of Lilburn, Shirley Blevins of Chattanooga, Kim Vining of Atlanta, Max Andrews of Dacula and Scott Calhoun of Atlanta. All heroes, their stories are below:

Bill Reynolds

Bill Reynolds (trigeminal neuralgia)
Fifty-seven-year-old Bill Reynolds started to experience startling and excruciating pain shoot up the left side of his jaw any time he moved his mouth – to brush his teeth, to eat, to talk. It was a pain so intense he would almost black out. Diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia, a painful chronic nerve disorder named for the three-part nerve that supplies sensations to all parts of the face, Reynolds found relief from prescription drugs. But through the years the pain started to break through. Piedmont neurologists presented Reynolds with several surgical options, but they agreed on the Gamma Knife surgery because it had the least risk and most potential for a positive outcome. Now, Reynolds can continue to do the job he is so passionate about – talking to various audiences all day as spokesperson for the National Parks Service.

Shirley Blevins

Shirley Blevins (brain cancer)
Fourteen years ago, Shirley Blevins’ family noticed subtle cues that she was struggling with balance and memory. Then, a well-timed visit to the eye doctor revealed a brain tumor. A friend in Chattanooga told her about Gamma Knife surgery and convinced Blevins to travel to Atlanta to consult with Piedmont physicians. The day after Gamma Knife surgery Blevins says she was back to her old self again. Nearly a decade passed as she continued life as normal, making the suggested clinical follow up visits. Considering herself cured, she eventually stopped making the trip to Atlanta. Then, in the fall of 2007, her family started to notice the same worrisome symptoms. This time the MRI revealed a brain tumor the size of three golf balls – too large for Gamma Knife surgery. Several local physicians gave her similar dreaded news – they did not think she could survive neurosurgery. Not satisfied, she turned back to Atlanta where Piedmont neurosurgeons restored the family’s hope and confidence. Blevins survived the eight-and-a-half-hour craniotomy. Then, during a follow up visit, doctors saw a shadow on her brain MRI. A second Gamma Knife procedure quickly destroyed the cancerous cells. Today, at 70, she says she is physically and mentally stronger than ever.

Kim Vining

Kim Vining (brain metastases)
No doubt about it, Kim Vining is a warrior. She has survived a nine-year battle with cancer that began when she was diagnosed with a rare, very aggressive breast cancer at age 37. Routine cancer treatment followed: chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. Less than two years later doctors found cancer in her lymph nodes and six lesions in her brain. Vining endured five weeks of daily whole-brain radiation, which killed both healthy and cancerous cells. Her brain was cancer-free again, but as the years passed Vining experienced warfare with another kind of breast cancer in addition to lung, back and hip cancers. Then, in 2007, cancer once again metastasized to different parts of her brain on two separate occasions. Both times, Gamma Knife surgery irradiated the lesions. Vining says of all of her various cancer treatments the brain cancer diagnosis was the scariest. “I thought, ‘This is it. I’m not going to survive this.’” But Gamma Knife surgery worked. “It was the easiest treatment of all.” Drug therapy is still a daily part of her routine to prevent cancer cells from reproducing, but the drug doesn’t cross the blood/brain barrier, so Vining lives every day knowing the cancer could settle back in her brain. “I keep working hard,” she says. “And in my spare time I read a lot and do crossword puzzles and Sudoku.” Brain exercises make Vining feel strong and ready to handle new challenges that may lie ahead.

Max Andrews

Max Andrews (brain metastases)
Smaller than most other boys in grade school, Max Andrews learned survival strategies at an early age. But even a ninth degree black belt in karate couldn’t protect him from his first real health issue at age 60 – cancer. A dry, persistent cough was first diagnosed as pneumonia, but later, a pulmonologist told him it was cancer. A lung biopsy revealed even worse news: the cancer actually originated in his kidney and had already metastasized to his lung, adrenal glands and brain. Andrews had a craniotomy to surgically remove the brain cancer. Then, a few months later, an MRI revealed three more small lesions. He had a successful Gamma Knife procedure, and then six months later, another small brain lesion was found. Andrews faces on-going challenges because renal cell carcinoma can easily get into the bloodstream and go anywhere in the body. Every six weeks he has a brain MRI and a full-body CT scan. “I’ve gone through many treatments, including traditional brain surgery,” says Andrews. “The Gamma Knife was so different from everything else – I simply had the procedure, was up and walking in a few hours, and then was back to work the next day.”

Scott Calhoun

Scott Calhoun (brain tumor)
Honeymooning in the Canadian Rockies, Scott Calhoun said goodnight to his bride and then did the same thing he did every night since he was 12 – he turned on the radio to fall asleep. Lucky for him, his new wife objected. The silence of the night drew attention to a whishing sound in his left ear. “It was not bothersome or painful, but I started to hear it every night,” Calhoun recalls. His primary care physician referred him to an ENT, where a CAT scan, brain MRI, and then biopsy revealed the source – a rare, benign tumor in Calhoun’s skull, just behind his eardrum. The tumor, called schwannoma, was partly embedded in his temporal bone and was starting to press against his brainstem. Calhoun first required a craniotomy to remove a large portion of the tumor. Then, after four weeks of recovery, the Gamma Knife targeted the remaining tumor cells with intense radiation and Calhoun was back at home the next day. That was nearly 20 years ago. Today, Calhoun is still tumor-free and sleeping soundly.