Norwegian man travels to Phoenix to have life-saving brain surgery

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A man from Norway has traveled all the way to the valley to undergo life-saving surgery at Barrow Neurological Institute. And just days after the surgery, he's already up and walking around.

"I've been given my life back," said 35-year-old Kristian Knudsen. "It's been a long road."

Knudsen was diagnosed with a golf ball sized brain aneurysm in 2006.

He underwent two surgeries in Norway, one of which caused a stroke and he had to completely learn to walk again. He also suffered memory loss.

He chose to come to Barrow Institute to undergo the life-saving surgery.

"The reason I think he's done so well is that we came up with the right strategy and we minimized the amount of surgery or invasion into the head that we need to do," said Dr. Michael Lawton.

Kndusen's surgeon from Norway accompanied him to Arizona to watch the intricate surgery.

Knudsen plans to fly home Monday back to Norway with a brand new lease on life thanks to the doctors at Brarow Neurological Institute.