After her cancer metastasized to the brain, Neila again entered the descending spiral staircase that is the cancer patient's life. The first step--the original diagnosis--was the biggest, but it led to the mezzanine of remission and the return of a normal life--though with some modifications and only for a while. The step off that mezzanine was in some ways even larger, for it led to a level where all the merry-go-rounds and rollercoasters in the medical playground of cancer treatment are kept; and to what soon became the realization that at the bottom of the stairs lies not a cue or even a miracle, but the end of life.

The patient with brain cancer is in a double bind because the tumor frequently is inoperable and the "Blood-Brain Barrier" prevents traditional chemotherapy agents from reaching the tumor. That leaves radiation therapy, which, unlike chemo, is indiscriminte; while it will kill any cells exposed to it, focusing it on just the cancer cells is like trying to focus the light from a light bulb. Just as the light radiates in all direction from a bulb, so radiation emanates indiscriminately in all directions from its source. The solution Neila's medical team recommended was Gamma Knife surgery in which multiple beams of radiation are focused deep inside the brain inaccessible to tradional surgery but with scapel-like precision. On May 4th, 1997 Neila underwent this procedure: the 3.5 cm tumor in her frontal lobe was cauterized with 5,000 rads. Cranial images after the procedure showed only a black necrosis in the spot where the tumor had been.