Busy Philipps, 47, known for her roles in the cult television series "Dawson's Creek" and "Cougar Town," revealed Wednesday in an interview with PEOPLE magazine that she underwent a harrowing medical ordeal this year: the removal of a malignant brain tumor.
The discovery came almost by chance. Philipps decided to undergo a full-body MRI scan despite having no early warning symptoms. The scan revealed a lesion in her frontal lobe, which was diagnosed as a grade 2 oligodendroglioma—a rare, slow-growing type of tumor.
This past March, Philipps underwent a complex five-hour surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center, during which doctors removed a mass measuring 2.6 centimeters. "I was hyperactive and just trying to breathe," she recalled of the moment physicians informed her the tumor had to be removed.
The surgery was successful, but a month later, during a routine visit to a dermatologist for a Botox injection, the doctor noticed an infection at the incision site. Philipps was rushed back to the hospital for emergency surgery to clean a staph infection and remove a pin from her skull. "For two years I told friends, 'My brain feels broken.' Now, after removing the tumor, my brain no longer feels broken," she said.
Despite the complication, Philipps recovered quickly and returned to filming her new series "Cupertino." Now requiring no chemotherapy and only regular monitoring, she wants to share an empowering message with women: "We tend to listen to doctors who say 'don't worry,' but if you feel something is wrong—trust your instincts. Knowledge is power."
