Dr Charlie Teo’s miracle patient Monica Lopresti writes exclusively for Daily Mail Australia

The idea of ​​Dr. Charlie Teo as cold or calculating, or reckless, or waiting for money before agreeing to surgery is as confusing as it is shocking to me.

It’s not even remotely like the person I met during one of the most terrifying times of my life.

I was 23 and thought I was the perfect picture of health.

I had a great social life, worked full time and walked 10,000 steps every day.

That all changed in July 2021. I became a person no one recognized – bedridden, pale, withdrawn. I had blackouts.

An MRI scan revealed a benign cystic tumor in the center of my brain.

Although the tumor was benign, its location blocked the normal circulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

We were devastated when we were told that the pressure caused by too much CSF prevents the brain from functioning properly and can lead to brain damage and death.

By the time the neurosurgeons my mother contacted — seven of them — told me they couldn’t operate, I lost all my eyesight.

My father had died eight years earlier of brain cancer. I was very scared.

So who is Charlie Teo anyway? I can only describe him from my own experiences and I will stick to that.

Let’s get those horrible stories about money out of the way first.

I’ve heard the claims that Dr. Teo demands $50,000 for surgery. That never happened in our situation.

He never even mentioned money in any consultation.

Of course, nothing is free in life, but this idea that Dr. Teo getting some of the money is just incorrect.

They can’t take anyone to the hospital until they pay, so we paid for the surgery.

We don’t want to talk about the details of what it cost our family, except to say it was worth it.

People pay thousands of dollars for cosmetic surgery and cars and no one doubts that.

When a patient spends thousands of dollars on life-saving surgery, how can you put a price on it?

But the money was not important to Dr. Teo, what was important to him was that we knew the risks of the surgery.

When you are going through a storm in life you want to meet someone who can guide you through it, give you clear and honest information. It’s even better if they’re nice.

That’s the doctor Teo my family knows.

But it’s not the only thing that made him special to us, he also has a beautiful personality.

He was humble, level-headed, empathetic, and sweet—a man who listened far more than most doctors I’ve encountered.

For the 10 months before my surgery, I was in medical centers week after week getting answers to my debilitating symptoms – but was treated like a number, not a person.

People listened to me for about a minute before declining what I had to say or coming up with an answer. It was like nobody cared.

But when I met Dr Teo, I walked into his room and felt like I was being heard for the first time. He had a lot of knowledge, he recognized all my symptoms, he made me feel human.

When we were in Madrid for surgery we had a really bad night. Eight years ago we had lost my father to brain cancer and it had been his wish to stop the treatment. So emotions ran high.

dr. Teo had made it clear to us that he was one phone call away. My mom, Christina, texted him at 2am and within 15 minutes he was facetimeing me.

I sat there and cried and he just listened to me vent. I treated him like a therapist. And he listened to everything. Then he became like family to us.

He was also clear about the risks. He is not a man who acts in false hopes, as I have heard.

On the day of surgery he was there before, during and after which was a great comfort.

We had a pre-appointment in which we went through everything again and met some of his team.

After the surgery, he waited in my room while I recovered and surprised my mother. He hugged her and told her how great I was doing.

How often does that happen?

My surgery was done on time and I was told that when I woke up my vision would be weird for a while, which is normal after brain surgery.

When I woke up most of my symptoms had disappeared and within four days I was out of the hospital and exploring Madrid.

I’ve been lucky, but it’s important to note that I don’t just have a friendly opinion of Dr. Teo.

The most common thing you hear from his patients is about his kind and caring nature.

Look at the pictures of him with patients. In every photo he has his arm around them, he is smiling.

This feeling that he is cold or selfish, I don’t understand where it comes from.

I think it’s crazy to say someone is cold if you haven’t met them.

Today I am healthy, but still in recovery. I work full time in insurance as a claims assessor in Sydney.

My weekends look like coffee and walks with friends, or movie nights and like everyone else I spend my days on the beach and love swimming in Bondi.

I live a pretty normal life and I owe it to Dr Teo, I’m convinced he was born to save lives.

I am forever grateful to him and that is why I will forever be in his corner.

If I’m afraid of the future, it’s the fear of someone being diagnosed with a high-risk tumor and dying from that risk.

Won’t future surgeons be innovative for fear of being shunned by their peers?

It is difficult to understand why patients are denied the right to choose their surgeon.

If it was for your life, or your child’s life, what would you do?

This is the choice many families have had to make and most of them do not regret coming to Dr. Theo have chosen.