From Brain Surgery to the Wedding Day: How Touro Helped One Mom Keep Her Promise to Walk Her Daughter Down the Aisle

It was early during the COVID-19 pandemic, when everyone was masking and social distancing. For anyone who worked in a healthcare facility, times felt particularly dangerous and uncertain. Kenner, La. resident Theresa Sallinger, then 52, had been the smiling face that greeted patients and their families for 15 years at the front desk of Manning Family Children's Lakeside Pediatrics in Metairie, La. 

June 22, 2020, was like any other busy day for Theresa. When her shift ended, she got on the road to drive home. Everything was fine one minute and not fine the next. 

Theresa suddenly felt woozy and disoriented, her daughter, Lyndsey, would later learn. Theresa pulled the car over and called Lyndsey who, as luck would have it, happened to be home from college that day. 

“I answered the phone right away because I saw it was my mother, but there was no one on the other end,” said Lyndsey, who was a nursing student at the time. “I immediately knew something was wrong. My mother couldn’t speak and she texted me her location.” 

Lyndsey headed to her mother’s location. Someone on site called 911 and Theresa was already being treated in an ambulance when Lyndsey arrived. 

A Stunning Diagnosis at Touro  

During the height of COVID, each patient was only allowed one visitor. Lyndsey’s father, Mike, stayed by his wife’s side as she underwent tests that revealed a brain tumor. Further imaging at Touro in New Orleans, including an MRI, confirmed that the brain tumor was caused by stage IV lung cancer that had spread to her brain. 

Manish K. Singh, MD, a board-certified neurosurgeon at Touro, recommended that Theresa undergo an immediate craniotomy to relieve pressure the tumor was putting on the brain. During this surgery, Dr. Singh temporarily removed a small piece of Theresa’s skull to access the tumor. The bone is then replaced once the surgery is complete. 

“Dr. Singh made it very clear what was happening and what needed to be done. He explained that my mom’s tumor was causing swelling that was pressing on the area of the brain responsible for speech. That’s why she wasn’t able to talk,” Lyndsey said. “Dr. Singh was phenomenal. He made sure we understood every option.” 

On June 25, 2020, Lyndsey, an only child, and her father made the decision to move forward with Dr. Singh’s recommendation. That day, Theresa underwent the first of three craniotomies she would have in the next few years. Though the surgery lasted many hours, the family knew what they were facing by the end of the day. Doctors confirmed Theresa had primary lung adenocarcinoma, the most common type of non-small cell lung cancer. 

“Genetic testing showed mom was a candidate for immunotherapy so she wouldn’t have to go through chemotherapy,” Lyndsey said. “We were so relieved to hear that because we didn’t want mom to have to deal with all the side effects of chemo, like losing her hair.”  

Immunotherapy is a treatment given intravenously that helps the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells. For some patients, it can be an effective alternative to chemotherapy, which targets fast-growing cells but often comes with significant side effects. 

Under the care of her oncologist, James Ellis, MD, and the Touro oncology team, Theresa received immunotherapy infusions and also underwent radiation therapy with Ellen L. Zakris, MD, a radiation oncologist. Sheryl B. Martin-Schild, MD, a vascular neurologist at Touro, prescribed speech and swallowing therapy for Theresa.  

“It was incredibly impressive how the team worked together,” Lyndsey said. “They shared information and coordinated everything. It felt seamless.” 

For a couple of years, Theresa continued healing and doing well. However, she began noticing some weakness and difficulty with speech again. In early 2023, she returned to Touro for additional testing. Unfortunately, the cancer had returned. Once again, she began radiation therapy led by Dr. Zakris. 

Another Setback and Another Surgery 

In May 2024, a prolonged seizure left Theresa nearly paralyzed on her right side. Imaging showed bleeding in the same area of her brain where they diagnosed the tumor in 2020. 

Back at Touro, Dr. Singh performed a second craniotomy. This time, pathology results revealed there was no active tumor.  

“We were so relieved to learn the cancer hadn’t returned,” Lyndsey said. “But the doctors did determine there was another problem. Mom was experiencing radiation necrosis. Her brain was swollen because of the two rounds of radiation.” 

After the second surgery, Theresa began intensive inpatient therapy at Touro Rehabilitation Center, where she received physical therapy to rebuild strength, occupational therapy to regain daily living skills, and speech therapy to maintain communication. Lyndsey said the rehab team made a lasting impression. 

“They were so personable,” she said. “They made her want to do therapy. She actually enjoyed being a patient at Touro Rehabilitation Center and was doing really well.” 

But a few months later, by October 2024, Theresa began having considerable trouble walking. Lyndsey explained that this time her mother had suffered a slipped disc in her lower back and needed a lumbar fusion to relieve pressure on spinal nerves. 

When Lyndsey learned the lumbar fusion had worked and that her mom was finally out of pain, she was ecstatic — for two reasons. First, she had been praying for a successful surgery. Second, something else important had just happened. 

Lyndsey’s boyfriend, Nick, had proposed. 

Learning the lumbar fusion was a success gave Lyndsey hope. For the first time, she began to believe her mom might be able to walk down the aisle at her wedding, planned for October 2025. 

A Third Craniotomy and One Goal in Mind 

Unfortunately, a few months before the wedding, in the early summer of 2025, Theresa’s seizures returned. Lyndsey worried her mom wouldn’t make it to her bachelorette party in August in Nashville — much less the wedding in October. 

“Scans showed a new tumor had appeared in mom’s motor cortex,” Lyndsey explained. “Dr. Singh told us that there was no certainty with a third craniotomy. He explained the surgery now carried risks of permanent weakness.” The motor cortex is the part of the brain’s frontal lobe that controls movement. 

While Theresa was considering her options regarding surgery, she was focused on one thing — making it to Nashville to celebrate her daughter. 

And that’s exactly what happened. 

One month after receiving the diagnosis, Theresa made it to Nashville in a wheelchair pushed by Lyndsey for much of the weekend. 

When they returned to New Orleans, however, Theresa knew that if she wanted to walk down the aisle at the wedding, she would need the surgery. 

The third craniotomy took place on September 10, 2025, and Theresa returned to inpatient rehab at Touro. Initially, Dr. Singh suspected the cancer had returned based on the imaging findings, Lyndsey said. The entire family was relieved two days later when biopsy results revealed the cause of Theresa’s weakness was radiation necrosis once again — not cancer. 

Following the surgery, Theresa’s oncologist, Dr. Ellis, started her on a specialized medication — in consultation with Dr. Zakris — to help alleviate symptoms and imaging findings of radiation necrosis after her third craniotomy. 

Theresa surprised family and friends on September 27, just two weeks after the surgery, by walking into Lyndsey’s bridal shower. 

A Walk Down the Aisle 

On Lyndsey’s wedding day, October 25, 2025, Theresa and Mike walked their daughter down the aisle.  

“I was terrified she wouldn’t even be there,” Lyndsey said. “For her to help me put on my dress and walk with me meant the world to me.” 

Today, Theresa continues with follow-up appointments so her doctors can monitor her brain and lungs. When Theresa was first diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer that had spread to her brain in 2020, the family understood the prognosis could be limited — often measured in months rather than years. Nearly five years later, Theresa has defied those statistics thanks to the care of her multidisciplinary team at Touro and her own remarkable resilience. Lyndsey graduated from nursing school, earned her RN, and now serves as clinic manager at Manning Family Children's Lakeside Pediatrics. 

She said experiencing the healthcare system from the patient family side has given her a new appreciation for the work she does every day. 

“I am so grateful for all the doctors and nurses at Touro. We absolutely trusted them,” she said. “From neurosurgery to oncology to rehab, they treated my mom and dad and me like family. They did everything they could to make sure my family was able to make the memories we wanted to make. And they gave my mom her life back.” 

To learn more about oncology services and Touro Cancer and Infusion Center, please visit: https://www.lcmchealth.org/touro/our-locations/touro-cancer-care-and-infusion-center/