Rockwall woman survives brain tumor, returns to same hospital as nurse

ROCKWALL, Texas - A North Texas woman is thankful to be alive after a serious health scare earlier this year.

Not only has she bounced back, but she’s now helping others through their own medical challenges.

It may sound like a cliché, but Erica Cash truly has something to be grateful for this Thanksgiving: her life.

She recalls waking up on the floor of her home back on May 1. Her husband rushed her to Texas Health Rockwall, where doctors made an alarming discovery.

"I saw his face, and I knew it was more than just a tumor. I was bleeding in the brain," she recalled.

A CT scan and 3D imaging of Cash’s brain determined the tumor was the size of a tennis ball.

Dr. Yoo Joo Hwang is one of the doctors who treated Cash.

"That always makes it tough when I take care of someone that I know," he said.

Hwang says Cash was a familiar face to him. The 42-year-old wife and mother worked as a secretary at the Texas Health Rockwall Emergency Department.

"The next step is basically kind of stabilizing her brain by giving her medication to suppress any seizure activity," he explained.

Cash was admitted to Texas Health Dallas where doctors were able to stop the brain bleed and remove the tumor. The surgery took eight hours. A sample was taken for a biopsy.

Cash woke up to some good news: the tumor was noncancerous. That means she didn't need any chemo or radiation. She's grateful to her medical team.

Despite the life-altering diagnosis, Cash says only one thing was going through her mind.

"I need to hurry up and get done because I have nursing school starting in August. So that was my main concern," she said.

Cash had just gotten accepted into nursing school when she had the seizure. After three months of recovery, she was able to start nursing school and finish.

Cash now works as a licensed vocational nurse at the very hospital she was treated at: Texas Health Rockwall.

"I'm just blessed to be able to know how my patients feel," she said. "I take that in with me every time I go in with a patient."