Texas Grandmother Sonia Johnson Livestreams Breast Cancer Surgery on Facebook

Texas doctors performed breast surgery on Facebook Live Thursday afternoon. 

The surgery features a new technology that identifies cancerous areas that must be cut out of the breast cancer patient with better accuracy.

As the surgery is livestreamed, a radiation oncologist tells Facebook viewers exactly what they're seeing.

The social networking site lit up with support for the patient.

Sonia Johnson, 50, is the brave woman who gave the world a front row seat to her deeply personal breast surgery.

"I said, 'Wow, Facebook? OK," the grandmother told WFAA before her surgery. "I felt I needed to pay it forward for somebody else who is afraid and who doesn't have the answers."   

Last year, she was diagnosed with aggressive triple negative breast cancer, and underwent chemotherapy to shrink the tumor. However, Thursday’s operation was considered critical to her survival.

"The times have changed now and we as physicians need to change with the times," her surgeon, Dr. Allison DiPasquale, told Inside Edition. "We need to bring attention to breast cancer." 

As the video streamed live from Methodist Charlton Medical Center in Dallas, Dr. DiPasquale performed a lumpectomy and also removed affected lymph nodes. 

"She said to me, 'Is it all out?' I said, 'Yes, Sonia, it is all out. You can say you had cancer,'" the doctor said. 

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