From: straightfromthea.com

Tionne ‘T-Boz” Watkins appeared on CBS’s “The Early Show” yesterday. During an intense interview with Harry Smith, T-Boz revealed that she’s been living with a secret for the last three years after her doctor delivered news she never imagined: she was told she had a brain tumor. The tumor was benign, but because of her sickle cell disease, surgery was risky. Watkins was told she could lose everything a performer needs: hearing, balance, facial movement, and speech if she chose to undergo the procedure.

“[I] can’t just go have surgery?” she asked. “They were like, ‘No, I’m sorry, sickle cell is a factor, that’s your reality and you can die.”

Dr. Keith Black from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, who is one of the country’s best neurosurgeons, met with T-Boz and eventually performed her surgery. According to Dr. Black, the tumor was about the size of a strawberry and a major, complicating factor was preserving the nerves.  In order to remove the tumor, doctors had to tease the tumor away from those nerves, so they wouldn’t do any damage to the facial and hearing nerves. T-Boz faced the possibility of coming out of surgery with facial weakness or hearing loss or even worse, stroke or coma.

Tionne has been on a long journey trying to beat the medical odds and get back on stage. She lost her ability to speak for a day but soon realized that life is a gift and because of her experiences she’s going to make the most of each day: