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Brie and Nikki Bella: Our mother is 'on the road to recovery' after brain surgery


Brie and Nikki Bella's mother is "on the road to recovery" following her brain surgery.
The 36-year-old twins recently revealed their mother Kathy Laurinaitis was to go under the knife for an operation to remove "mass" on her brain stem, and after later announcing the surgery was a success, they have now opened up in more detail about their mother's recovery.
Brie said: "She is now on the road to recovery, which will be about six months to a year. We had a great conversation with her, and it's been so nice just to like see our mom be our mom again. She's very beat up, she has a long road, but we're just so happy that she has light at the end of the tunnel."
The former wrestling stars also explained why their mother needed surgery, as they said Kathy was diagnosed with Bell's palsy four months ago, but after her "whole face went numb", doctors discovered she actually had a spot on her brain.
Brie added: "Four months ago, our mother was diagnosed with Bell's palsy or, at least, they thought it was Bell's palsy. Majority of her face was paralysed ... It was her left side. You saw it a lot in her eye and her mouth and her forehead.
"And then, a couple weeks ago, my mom woke up, her face was more paralysed. Her whole face went numb, she was extremely dizzy, she couldn't taste.
"They did an MRI and they saw a mass on our mother's brain stem as big as a blueberry."
The family later discovered the mass was in a "fatal spot", and could have killed Kathy if she hadn't had the symptoms on her face.
Brie explained: "You know what's crazy? The spot it was in is a fatal spot. So, my mom's actually so lucky that she saw the symptoms on her face because, if she didn't have any symptoms and walking around with this, down the road it could've been fatal."
And the twins also revealed Kathy's surgery has been documented by the 'Total Bellas' cameras, as their mother was determined to raise awareness for the life-threatening issue.
Speaking during an episode of their 'The Bellas Podcast', Nikki said: "My mom really wanted the cameras to roll because, obviously, we all were like, 'No!' But my mom's like, 'Think of how many people out there think they have Bell's palsy, or they have certain symptoms and the doctors don't give them MRIs on their brain? And then, they find out they have these growths or tumours or cancer and it's so late in the game.'"