Amelia Branson is going to America for surgery and radiation for her brain tumour, which costs about $550,000. Video / Megan Wilson
Amelia Branson had a $550,000 brain surgery in the US, removing 95% of her tumour.
Branson is recovering well in Canada, with targeted radiation seeds placed to prevent regrowth.
Her family raised about $200,000 through GoFundMe, easing financial stress for the surgery.
A Rotorua woman who went to the US for brain surgery says the $550,000 operation went “as well as it could” with 95% of her tumour being removed.
Amelia Branson, 27, spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post in February about her Grade 3 meningioma braintumour diagnosis and her decision to get treatment in San Francisco.
She and her family set up a GoFundMe page and used savings to pay for the “critical” surgery to remove the cancerous tumour.
Branson had the four-hour surgery just over a month ago and was discharged after two nights in hospital.
Post-surgery, Branson said she was recovering in Canada and doing “really well”.
She said her recovery had been “pretty much perfect so far”.
“The surgery went as well as it could - they believe they resected 95% of the tumour and only the part inside the vein couldn’t be removed.”
Branson said the surgeon also placed 15 rice-sized seeds around the area to deliver targeted radiation (brachytherapy), which “at the very least should prevent the tumour from growing again any time soon”.
“There’s no absolute certainty if/when it could grow back in the same spot again, but they are sending the tumour to have a full genetic testing work-up to see if there are any markers or mutations that will respond to existing treatment options.”
Rotorua woman Amelia Branson said her brain surgery went "as well as it could". Photo / Supplied
Branson was first diagnosed with the “aggressive” tumour in September 2021. It was a little smaller than a golf ball and growing next to the sagittal sinus vein.
She had surgeries and radiation in New Zealand, then a Gamma Knife radiation treatment in San Francisco.
When the tumour grew back again, she elected to return to the US for the latest surgery and brachytherapy.
Branson said her oncologist in the US told her there was “lots of new research in the pipeline”.
“She couldn’t give us any timelines but it sounds like it’ll be soon - hopefully something that I can get in on if they’re doing clinical trials.”
Rotorua woman Amelia Branson went to the US for brain surgery in February. Photo / Supplied
She is originally from Canada and moved to New Zealand with her family in 1999. Her mother now lives in Canada.
Branson said she met a fantastic Canadian nurse practitioner while in hospital.
“They are going to help us find better treatment options in Canada if I need anything going forward.”
Branson said this was great as it would be covered under Canada’s free public health system.
Overall, she and her family were happy with the outcome of the surgery.
The only thing that would have made it perfect was if the tumour had not grown in the vein, she said.
Branson said she would have an MRI scan in about a month and follow-up scans every three months.
She and her family were “blown away” by the number of strangers who donated to her GoFundMe page.
They were on track to raise about $200,000 which was “far more than we had ever imagined we could raise”.
In an update about her recovery to followers on social media, she said she could not put into words how much stress the donations took off the family, and it felt like people had “shares” in her life now.
