Avera Medical Minute: Gamma Knife technology fights brain tumors [Video]

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Receiving the news of a cancer diagnosis is never easy to hear, especially when it’s something you’ve experienced more than once.

One woman is facing cancer with optimism, thanks to innovative treatments.

Shawn Carlson is a wife, mom of four and high school teacher.

While staying busy with family functions and school events, she has also been on a long journey battling cancer.

“Late in 2013, in December, is when I felt the lump. I went to the doctor, and they ordered the mammogram,” said Avera patient Shawn Carlson. “Two days after Christmas in 2013 is when we found out that it was positive.”

Positive for breast cancer. She did all the necessary treatments and eventually moved into the survivorship clinic.

“Then in 2021 was when we found out it had come back, and it had come back with a vengeance,” said Carlson. …