Doctors in Montreal have successfully operated on a woman’s brain while she was pregnant. In January 2025, Zupa Nakayi-Semitego was working out in the gym when she felt a pop in her head. “I was very dizzy,” she said. “I couldn’t see properly. I was seeing blurry.” She was in severe pain, and her husband took her to the hospital, where brain scans showed she had suffered a stroke, which caused bleeding in her brain. Dr. Marie-Christine Brunet at the Montreal Neurological Institute says her condition was rare. “The incidence is about, one or two per 100,000 population,” she said. Nakayi-Semitego needed surgery, but she was also nearly six months pregnant. Doctors gave her the option to wait until after she gave birth, but if the brain condition was left untreated, it could lead to a coma or even death. She decided to go ahead with the surgery. “I had a feeling that my baby will be okay,” said Nakayi-Semitego. She was right. After a 10-hour surgery, Nakayi-Semitego recovered well, and months later, she gave birth to a baby girl. Brunet says it took a team of doctors to pull it off, including specialists from the Montreal Children’s Hospital. “They were there and were keen on a standby just in case something would happen. and we would have to deliver the baby, prematurely,” said Brunet. Operating on a pregnant patient is not something Brunet does often, but for Nakayi-Semitego, there’s no doubt she had the right doctor on her side. “She did this incredible thing and she saved two lives,” she said.
