On Tuesday, tens of thousands of people tuned into the Methodist Dallas Medical Center’s Facebook page to watch 25-year-old Jenna Schardt undergo brain surgery — while conscious.

According to the ABC News segment above, Jenna was mid-conversation one day when she realized she was having trouble speaking. She wasn’t able to type out a text to her friend in order to ask for help, either, so she knew she had to go to the hospital as soon as possible. 

Doctors at the medical center planned to operate on Schardt, wanting to remove a mass of tangled blood vessels in her brain that was impairing her speech and causing seizures. Awake brain surgery allows the surgeons to operate on the patient’s brain without worrying about damaging the areas that control vision, language and body movements. 

With Schardt staying awake and answering the doctor’s questions throughout the procedure, the surgeons could ensure they weren’t interfering with crucial parts of her brain before they seal her skull back up. 

First, Schardt was put under anesthesia so the surgeons could cut into her skull. After reaching her brain, they woke her up and mapped out her brain. If Schardt was able to correctly answer the doctor’s questions, the surgeons knew that those parts of her brain were okay to touch. If she made a mistake, they avoided those areas.

It was Schardt’s idea to stream the surgery live. 

The 25-year-old is studying to be an occupational therapist and helps patients recover from brain injuries of their own. She thought it would be beneficial to people who might have to undergo a similar surgery to watch it on camera.

The stream lasted for 45 minutes before doctors were able to remove the mass — then putting Schardt back under.

“If this can become a learning opportunity for someone else, I mean, I think something good is going to come out of this,” she told ABC News.

Watch the full video above. 

20 PHOTOSBest Hospitals: 2018-2019See GalleryBest Hospitals: 2018-2019

20. Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Where: Boston
Honor Roll points: 177
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: Not ranked

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19. Duke University Hospital

Where: Durham, North Carolina
Honor Roll points: 178
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 17th

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18. Mount Sinai Hospital

Where: New York
Honor Roll points: 192
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 18th

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17. Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Where: Nashville, Tennessee
Honor Roll points: 198
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: Not ranked

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15 (tie). UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside

Where: Pittsburgh 
Honor Roll points: 208
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 14th

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15 (tie). NYU Langone Hospitals

Where: New York
Honor Roll points: 208
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 19th

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14. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian

Where: Philadelphia 
Honor Roll points: 225
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 10th

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13. Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Where: Chicago 
Honor Roll points: 228
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 13th

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11 (tie). Mayo Clinic Phoenix

Where: Phoenix
Honor Roll points: 241
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 20th

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11 (tie). Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Where: St. Louis 
Honor Roll points: 241
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 12th

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10. New York-Presbyterian Hospital

Where: New York
Honor Roll points: 242
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 8th

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9. Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital

Where: Stanford, California
Honor Roll points: 250
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 9th

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8. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Where: Los Angeles 
Honor Roll points: 252
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 11th

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7. UCLA Medical Center

Where: Los Angeles 
Honor Roll points: 267
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 7th

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6. UCSF Medical Center

Where: San Francisco
Honor Roll points: 296
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 5th

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5. University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine

Where: Ann Arbor
Honor Roll points: 324
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 6th

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4. Massachusetts General Hospital

Where: Boston 
Honor Roll points: 354
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 4th

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3. Johns Hopkins Hospital

Where: Baltimore 
Honor Roll points: 355
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 3rd

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2. Cleveland Clinic

Where: Cleveland 
Honor Roll points: 385
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 2nd

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1. Mayo Clinic

Where: Rochester, Minnesota
Honor Roll points: 414
Last year’s Honor Roll rank: 1st

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