[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/12\/raisa-brain-surgery-story\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/12\/raisa-brain-surgery-story\/","headline":"Raisa’s Story: 9-Year-Old Improving Every Day After Emergency Brain Surgery at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh","name":"Raisa’s Story: 9-Year-Old Improving Every Day After Emergency Brain Surgery at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh","description":"

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I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rainbow like that in real life,\u2019\u201d says Carole, Raisa\u2019s mom. \u201cAnd so, I pulled over, and she\u2019s snapping photos. We don\u2019t get so excited as adults seeing rainbows anymore, and she was so excited to see that.\u201dThe next day, Raisa\u2019s life changed drastically. The 9-year-old from Bergholz, Ohio, suffered a life-threatening brain injury that required her to fly to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for treatment.Raisa needed emergency brain surgery from UPMC Children\u2019s neurosurgeon, Cody Nesvick, MD, to save her life. She spent the next months recovering while also requiring more brain procedures to treat the complications of her condition.Six months after her initial emergency, Raisa is back home in Ohio and improving every day. Carole is thankful to the entire care team at UPMC Children\u2019s for their work in saving her daughter.\u201cI just think my daughter got the best care possible in the world,\u201d she says. \u201cThey make miracles happen.\u201dA Brain EmergencyRaisa is a \u201csassy, very brilliant\u201d fourth-grader who enjoys dancing, playing the piano, and playing sports, Carole says.\u201cShe\u2019s very funny, she is very well-liked, she\u2019s a great friend, and she\u2019s just a ray of sunshine,\u201d Carole says.The weekend before her injury, Raisa had \u201cthe best dance recital of her life,\u201d her father, Adam, says.\u201cThere was nothing wrong,\u201d he says.On the morning of May 15, Raisa had a headache as she prepared for school. As Carole drove her to school, Raisa became sick and vomited in the car \u2014 prompting Carole to bring her back home.Carole, a nurse with a background in neurology, suspected Raisa had hit her head and suffered a concussion. However, Raisa told Carole that she hadn\u2019t hit her head.After returning home, Raisa vomited again. Still thinking it was a concussion, Carole prepared to call Raisa\u2019s doctor when a different emergency occurred.\u201cI tried to get her off the ground by the toilet she was throwing up in, and I heard her grind her teeth, and she went limp on the right side,\u201d Carole says. \u201cI knew immediately she\u2019d had a stroke.\u201dCarole told Adam to call 911. The emergency medical technicians arrived within minutes. Upon evaluating Raisa, the EMTs said they would have to transport her to UPMC Children\u2019s by helicopter.In less than an hour, she was in Pittsburgh.\u201cI thank my local EMS every day because they didn’t mess around,\u201d Adam says. \u201cTime was such a factor with everything here.\u201dLifesaving Brain SurgeryAfter arriving at UPMC Children\u2019s, Raisa went to the emergency department. The ED team, led by Maria Antonucci, MD, rushed to help.Computed tomography (CT) imaging showed a hemorrhage in Raisa\u2019s brain. The bleeding was in the area that controls movement and speech on the right side of the body. She also had a \u201cblown pupil\u2019 \u2014 a rapidly dilating pupil, which is a sign of life-threatening pressure in the brain. Raisa would need emergency brain surgery to save her life.When Raisa\u2019s family talked to Dr. Nesvick before the surgery, he told them he suspected Raisa had a lesion or an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in her brain. An AVM is an abnormal connection between arteries and veins in the brain.\u201cDr. Nesvick was honest. He said, \u2018This is a lifesaving procedure,\u2019\u201d Carole adds. \u201cIt really was frightening, and that\u2019s when I lost it. I kept it together until that moment. It was intense.\u201dDespite their fear, Carole and Adam say they trusted Dr. Nesvick and the UPMC Children’s team.\u201cI looked at it like this: \u2018She’s at Children’s Hospital. That’s the best care you’re going to get in this world,\u2019\u201d Adam says. \u201cWhatever they’re going to do, I\u2019m not going to question it because we’re in the right place.\u201dDr. Nesvick and his team decompressed Raisa\u2019s brain and removed the AVM in a procedure that lasted several hours. Afterward, she was moved to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).\u201cWhen Dr. Nesvick came and talked to us after the surgery, I said, \u2018Well, if anybody’s going to fight and win, it\u2019s going to be her,\u2019\u201d Carole says. \u201cI’m not sure I believed it at the time I said it, but I did want him to know.\u201dThe Turning PointEven after the surgery, Raisa wasn\u2019t out of the woods. She had a tube put in to help her breathe. While in the PICU, she had numerous seizures and concerning fevers. She also developed pneumonia because of the amount of time she spent with the breathing tube.\u201cThe nurses in the PICU \u2014 most days, they just ran,\u201d Carole says. \u201cThey literally only had Raisa as a patient, and they were on their feet and moving the entire 12 hours with the care she needed. It was really amazing to see.\u201dRaisa had hydrocephalus, a condition that occurs when there is too much cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain.Dr. Nesvick also performed surgery to place a shunt to divert the excess fluid from the ventricles in Raisa\u2019s brain to her abdomen, where her body could absorb it.\u201cAnd that was really the turning point,\u201d Carole says. \u201cHonestly, I lived in fear for the first three weeks \u2014 just a constant state of unknown and fear. But also, I really believed in the care she was getting.\u201dShortly thereafter, Raisa underwent a cranioplasty to replace her skull bone from her previous surgery.Turning the CornerThree days after her cranioplasty, Raisa transferred to the inpatient rehabilitation unit at UPMC Children\u2019s. She worked with occupational, physical, and speech therapists to relearn how to walk, talk, and perform everyday activities.\u201cWhen they took her to medical rehab, I thought, \u2018We’re going to turn the corner right now,\u2019\u201d Adam says.At first, Raisa was on medication to lower her seizure risk. She couldn\u2019t walk or talk at first, and Carole says Raisa was experiencing confusion.The first major sign of Raisa turning the corner came at the end of June.\u201cThey weren’t really expecting her to be able to talk,\u201d Carole says. \u201cAt the end of June, I came home for a day to work on the house to get things arranged for her. My mom sent me a video \u2014 she said, \u2018Mommy, I love you.\u2019\u201cThat’s the first time she spoke in over six weeks. That was amazing.\u201dOver the next several weeks, Raisa continued to improve. She began walking with the help of a cane and an ankle and foot orthotic.\u201cWith the therapy regimen, they were doing two-a-days and then one-a-days on Saturday,\u201d Adam says. \u201cThey weren’t stopping. And Raisa was ready to go. She handled everything like a champ.\u201dRaisa spent 10 weeks in inpatient rehabilitation. Carole and Adam noticed a major difference from her first day to her last day in the unit.\u201cWhen she woke up, she couldn\u2019t tell you colors. She couldn’t tell you numbers. She just struggled with everything,\u201d Carole says. \u201cBy the time we left there, she was the Uno champion of the rehab unit. They made her a little trophy. What an impact they made.\u201dImproving Every DayOn Aug. 27, after 105 days in the hospital, Raisa returned home.\u201cIt was scary because this is a different world for us,\u201d Carole says. \u201cThis is a completely different life we\u2019re living. And it took us a couple of days, but we did get adjusted. We got a routine down.\u201dRaisa returned to UPMC Children\u2019s in September for an endoscopic septostomy, an additional surgery to treat her hydrocephalus. An angiogram taken after the procedure showed no evidence of a residual AVM, a sign she\u2019s unlikely to have one again.Meanwhile, Raisa is showing improvement every day while continuing with outpatient therapy.\u201cWe still have a long way to go, but every day, I see more and more of her personality. I see more and more of her intellect coming back,\u201d Carole says. \u201cI know everyone thinks their kid is very, very smart, but she was absolutely brilliant, and I really do see the light coming back. She\u2019s doing great.\u201dAdam and Carole hope Raisa can return to many of the hobbies she loved, such as dancing, playing the piano, and sports.\u201cIt’s a slow process, but we knew it was going to be,\u201d Adam says. \u201cI’d like her to get back to walking on her own and doing everyday tasks, things that she loves \u2014 dancing, piano, basketball. I want her to get back to doing the things she loved to do. Going to school and being with all of her friends. That\u2019s what every kid wants to do.\u201dDuring Raisa\u2019s stay in the hospital, she interacted with many different UPMC Children\u2019s employees. Carole says she\u2019s grateful to everyone for the care and compassion they provided.\u201cI never thought Raisa would have to deal with this and have to get care at a hospital in Pittsburgh, but I have to say we experienced just the same level of expertise as what we\u2019ve experienced in the past at (UPMC Presbyterian),\u201d Carole says. \u201cEveryone at Children\u2019s was kind and compassionate.\u201cDr. Nesvick, the way I see him care for my daughter is just amazing. You have someone really special there. I just think it\u2019s unbeatable care at all levels.\u201dSources"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2025","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"12","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/\/12\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Raisa’s Story: 9-Year-Old Improving Every Day After Emergency Brain Surgery at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2025\/12\/raisa-brain-surgery-story\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]