An influencer who had brain surgery while she was awake says she remembers 'every moment' as she describes the 'surreal' operation to her fans

• Australian model and influencer Emily Sears shared that she underwent brain surgery while awake last week in an Instagram post to her 4.9 million followers.
• Sears wrote that she was diagnosed with a cavernous malformation — a cluster of abnormal blood vessels in the brain — after having a major seizure during a shopping trip.
• She decided to have the brain surgery, which she was awake for, to stop the seizures she was having rather than relying on medication to manage her condition.
• "I remember every moment of being awake, there was 2 surgeons and one waved at me," she wrote. "It was as strange and surreal as it sounds."

Emily Sears, a model who has graced Carl's Jr. ads and appeared in campaigns for Khloe Kardashian's Good American denim line, shared that she underwent a life-changing brain operation last week — for which she was awake the entire time.

"I remember every moment of being awake, there was 2 surgeons and one waved at me," Sears, 35, wrote in an Instagram post to her 4.9 million followers. "It was as strange and surreal as it sounds."

So, last Thursday, I had brain surgery! . I’ve delayed posting this because I don’t even know where to begin. The past year of my life is so hard to put into words. . In April last year, I suddenly woke up in an ambulance being taken to hospital after having a major seizure while shopping. After a few days of tests, I was diagnosed as having a cavernous malformation, otherwise known as a cavernoma, which is a cluster of abnormal blood vessels in the brain which cause epileptic seizures. . My whole life was put on hold from that point on from my work life to my social life, my relationship with my body and my identity. . This past year has been a rollercoaster of the up and downs of having multiple seizures, side effects of medication trials and the emotional toll of everything in my world changing so suddenly. . I chose to have this surgery because my choices came down to living on medication for the rest of my life, always living with the likelihood of having breakthrough seizures even while medicated-or going ahead with the craniotomy surgery. Because the cavernoma was located in the front left temporal lobe, I risked losing my ability to speak as that is the speech function area of the human brain. . Because of this; I was awake while they operated as I needed to be able to speak to make sure they didn’t remove any vital tissue along with the blood vessels. I remember every moment of being awake, there was 2 surgeons and one waved at me.. it was as strange and surreal as it sounds! . Ultimately, this experience has changed my world view more than I could every express, and the overall feeling I am left with is gratitude. I have a deepened respect for the human body, the human mind and the human soul. I am humbly grateful for the ability to access healthcare, for the fact that my condition had a cure and for the support of my friends, family, industry peers and for my incredible man who has stuck by me the whole time. . I want to remind everyone that IG is never the whole picture of our lives; you don’t know what people are going through - so always be kind. . Thank you for the well wishes and love! . #cavernomaawareness #cavernoma #brainsurgery #epilepsy

A post shared by Emily Sears (@emilysears) on Jun 29, 2020 at 3:10pm PDTJun 29, 2020 at 3:10pm PDT

In April 2019, she was diagnosed with a cavernous malformation, a cluster of abnormal blood vessels in the brain, after having a major seizure during a shopping trip. After that first seizure, her life was turned upside-down.

"My whole life was put on hold from that point on from my work life to my social life, my relationship with my body and my identity," Australia-born Sears, who is based in Los Angeles, wrote. "This past year has been a rollercoaster of the up and downs of having multiple seizures, side effects of medication trials and the emotional toll of everything in my world changing so suddenly."

Sears decided that, rather than manage her condition with medication for the rest of her life, she wanted to undergo surgery to stop the episodes once and for all.

Because the cluster of vessels was located in her front left temporal lobe, the part of the brain that controls our ability to speak, Sears had to be awake for the procedure to help surgeons to spot if they were coming close to vital parts of her lobe that affected her facial control.

"Ultimately, this experience has changed my world view more than I could ever express, and the overall feeling I am left with is gratitude," Sears wrote. "I have a deepened respect for the human body, the human mind and the human soul."

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