Behind 25-year-old’s brave decision to livestream her brain surgery — while awake — on Facebook

Abby Haglage

“Horrified” was the first emotion that Jenna Schardt’s parents remember feeling when doctors revealed that their 25-year-old daughter — who had been experiencing sudden seizures and speech loss — had a lesion in her brain that needed operating.

But for Jenna, an occupational therapist finishing up her degree in Dallas, Texas, the news felt more like an opportunity than a tragedy. “The first thing [Jenna] said is, ‘If I have to go through this, I want as many people to benefit from it as possible,’” her mom Wendy said in a press conference Wednesday.

So, along with doctors at Dallas Methodist Medical Center, Jenna decided to do something revolutionary: live-stream her brain surgery on Facebook. Her goal — and that of her neurosurgeons, Randall Graham, MD, and Bartley Mitchell, MD— was to raise awareness about awake brain surgery (also known as an awake craniotomy) and help diminish fears for the thousands who have to undergo it each year.

Her surgery, which was broadcast live on Facebook Tuesday morning, has already been viewed over 100,000 times. It begins with Jenna asleep, but as doctors make it into her brain, they begin what’s called “speech mapping” to figure out which parts of her brain control her language. Through prompts on an iPad, Jenna can be seen reading words like “fourteen,” “orange,” “butterfly” and “banana.”

Nimesh H. Patel, MD, executive medical director of Neurosurgery at Dallas Methodist, explains what happens as the video plays. “When she’s awake, we stimulate an area — and if she’s unable to speak during that time, then we know that is a zone we don’t want to enter in trying to remove these lesions,” says Patel. After mapping out which areas of the brain are vital, the neurosurgeons start the actual procedure of removing the lesion.

While they perform the removal, a doctor talks with Jenna to ensure that her speech remains intact. For over 20 minutes, the two can be seen talking about what she’s studying in school (coincidentally, seizures and speech loss in stroke victims), as well as her hometown in Illinois and her dog — whom she refers to as “my baby.” The video comes to a close around the 45-minute mark, with Jenna smiling and the surgery near complete.

After Dallas Medical posted the full video, comments poured in from friends and strangers beneath it thanking Jenna for agreeing to be filmed. “Watching this surgery has given me hope about my future similar left temporal lobe surgery. What a terrific team of doctors,” wrote Collette Rousseau Shimanek. “This whole experience has been amazing being able to watch, [I] can’t imagine your personal experience,” added Stephanie Wieck. “I’ve been in health care for 40 years and you are pioneering this kind of experience!!!!”

Just 24 hours following the surgery, Jenna’s parents appeared in a press conference with her doctors, Graham and Mitchell, as well as Patel. In it, Graham confirmed that the surgery went “absolutely fantastic” and that he was “happy” with how the removal of the lesion went. “She handled it really, really well,” said Graham. “She was active and conversive — her personality actually kept coming through.”

Mitchell, who is the director of neurovascular surgery at Dallas Medical, echoed Graham’s thoughts. “I’ve already had people contact me and tell me how brave they thought she was to bring attention to a surgery like this — and I completely agree,” Mitchell said. “She just did a fantastic job.”

While some may be resistant to the idea of putting their own surgery on display, Jenna’s mom said she embraced it. “The first thing I said was, ‘I think it’s a great idea because I know they’ll do their very best if they’re [on camera],’” Wendy said, eliciting laughter from the doctors beside her. “I knew they would anyway, but this is something Jenna wanted from the very start.” Her dad, Mark, found that seeing his daughter on-screen brought him “comfort” that things were going well. “It helped tremendously,” he shared.

For neurosurgeons hoping to diminish concerns, this is the best-case scenario. Brad Elder, MD, a neurosurgeon at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, applauds Jenna’s video. “The good that can come from this is bringing awareness — not just to brain tumors, but to the fact that an awake craniotomy is something patients tolerate well and to decrease the fear around it,” Elder tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

Elder says that awake brain surgery is most often performed to map speech but is sometimes used for motor skills as well. Although it may look uncomfortable, there are no pain receptors located on the surface of the brain, meaning that manipulating it doesn’t hurt. (There are, however, nerve blockers used on the scalp).

While Elder has never himself done a livestream of an awake craniotomy, he says he isn’t opposed. “From a patient benefit standpoint I would definitely consider it,” he tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “We could get awareness out there that this isn’t a medieval punishment we’re putting you through to get our surgery accomplished. There is fear about accidentally waking up during surgery but now we’re telling you that you will wake up but with good reason ... if they can see someone laughing and talking through that I think it would help.”

As for Jenna, it seems she may have predicted a positive ending from the start. In an interview on the hospital’s Facebook two days before her surgery, she said she felt hopeful. “Honestly, I feel pretty calm, I have peace about the situation,” Jenna said, sitting at a computer. “I feel like everything happens for a reason and if this can be some kind of learning opportunity for somebody else ... I think something good is going to come out of this.”

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