In February 2024, Alison Stewart, host of “All of It” on New York Public Radio, experienced an unexpected loss of speech. Initially attributing her symptoms to fatigue, Stewart went through her morning routine but soon realized the problem was more serious when she found herself unable to communicate clearly and began drooling.
After arriving at WNYC Studios and struggling with basic communication tasks, Stewart was taken to the emergency department. Neurosurgeon Randy D’Amico, MD, director of the Lenox Hill Hospital Brain and Spine Metastasis Program, received a call about her case. Dr. D’Amico recognized Stewart from her time as a reporter on “MTV News” in the 1990s.
Upon examining a CT scan, Dr. D’Amico identified a lesion about the size of a walnut in the area of Stewart’s brain responsible for language. He explained that while such tumors can affect speech due to their location and are sometimes seen in otherwise healthy individuals, only surgery could provide definitive answers.
Dr. D’Amico described the importance of location in brain surgery: “Location is everything,” he said. To avoid damaging essential functions during surgery, his team used Quicktome—a technology platform that creates personalized maps of an individual’s neural networks using MRI scans and connectomics research. This allowed them to plan a surgical approach that would minimize risk to areas involved in speech and other key functions.
Stewart agreed to undergo part of the procedure while awake so surgeons could monitor her responses during the operation. She relied on her journalistic skills to process information about her condition calmly: “You get really good at taking in information that might be bad or scary, putting it in a box and assessing it,” she said.
Following surgery under anesthesia, Stewart learned she did not have cancer; instead, bacterial infections—actinomycosis and staph—were identified as causes for her symptoms. Her recovery required weeks of intensive rehabilitation before regaining basic speech abilities and months before returning part-time to work. More than a year later, she continues to experience occasional difficulties with language but has resumed full-time duties.
“I have sophisticated thoughts, and they get in the elevator in my brain and go downstairs, and I’m not entirely sure what’s going to come out,” Stewart said about adapting post-surgery life.
Dr. D’Amico later appeared as a guest on “All of It” where Stewart thanked him for his role in her recovery: “You gave me my life back,” she told him.
###
