I had a wonderful internist for many years, and I went to see him for a routine angiogram to review the second of two aneurysms which I have had since birth and hadn’t checked for years. The first aneurysm was removed more than 30 years ago by a very prominent surgeon in the city at the time. When my internist looked at the results of the remaining aneurysm, he told me it was “significantly large” and he’d taken the liberty to send all my records to Dr. Wesley King—someone he called a great technician. In fact, he talked about Dr. King and his credentials for 20 minutes, non-stop. Then we went to meet Dr. King. I knew I wanted him to do the surgery and I said to my husband, I trust my internist and I have a gut feeling that Dr. King is the guy. I loved his demeanor and he reminded me of the surgeon who had removed my first aneurysm. In getting to know him before my surgery, I asked him what he liked to do outside of work. He told me he builds and flies high performance planes. That was revealing to me—you have to be an extreme perfectionist to excel at something like that and I valued the attention to detail that kind of hobby requires! Given the glowing recommendation from my doctor, the quality of personal interactions I had with Dr. King, and my understanding of his perfectionist nature, I felt very confident going into the surgery and was not scared. I knew I was going to be fine and was in good hands. I believe choosing a doctor wisely isn’t a popularity contest. It’s about choosing the best, most qualified, most prepared surgeon. I have absolutely referred other patients to Dr. King—strangers, people I don’t know even—and I will, until the day I die. – Tina E.

I saw a doctor in Denver who said I could live the rest of my life with my Chiari Malformation condition. When I moved to Los Angeles, I thought, ‘why not get a second opinion’ because the pains were getting worse and worse and I thought it might be time to see a neurosurgeon. I was referred to Dr. King and his staff was very accommodating and helped me get in right away. When he looked at my MRIs, he explained to me the seriousness of my condition in a way I hadn't been told before. I decided not to wait any longer. I was very scared, but I felt an enormous sense of trust in Dr. King - he looks at you straight in the eye and he’s always ready to talk to you about all of your questions and concerns. He operated on me and the procedure went really well. I have highly recommended Dr. King to other patients without any excitation, and in preparing for my own procedure, I talked to other people who had surgery with him and they also had wonderful things to say. He exudes a sense of calm and humility and he treats his patients like people—not just another case to work on—and that really mattered to me. - Flavia S.

I was having unexplained vertigo incidents, and my doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with me. He recommended we do an MRI of the head, and when the results came back, he told me that the radiologist had found a small meningioma right between my eyes. My doctor said I needed to see a neurosurgeon about this, and he gave me Dr. King’s name. When I went to see him, Dr. King looked at the MRI and told me I could have surgery to remove the tumor—which I found out was benign—or I could wait another six months to see if it got any bigger. So basically I got to make the choice, which is funny, because most people don’t have elective brain surgery. After six months, I had another MRI and went to see Dr. King again. He looked at the film and said the same thing—‘you have to decide.’ So I asked as many questions as I could think of, and he told me all the answers, helping me to understand what the surgery would be like so I could make my decision. I wanted to know how invasive it would be, what the recovery would be like, etc. I remember he explained that brain surgery is easier in some ways to recover from than an abdominal surgery. So I spent 12 months gathering information and ultimately got to the place where I decided to have the surgery. I went in to the hospital on a Wednesday morning and was back at home Friday afternoon, about 60 hours later. The first week or so, I didn’t feel great, but it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. And while I was in the hospital, all of the nurses commented on how tiny the scar was, telling me they couldn’t see it at all and that no one would know I’d had brain surgery. I was so glad I made the choice to work with Dr. King. He even came to my house to check on me about a week after the surgery because I had become really nauseous and friends who were staying with me at the time were getting worried about me. I called his answering service, and he stopped by an hour later just to talk me through what was happening, which was related to my medications. The psychological boost of having your brain surgeon come to your house and tell you you’re doing okay did a lot to speed my recovery. The whole experience was amazing, and his staff, especially Chyrell, saved my life a number of times, championing my case and helping me navigate the small details involved in booking such a procedure. It’s great to wake up and realize it’s all behind me now. The tumor hasn’t grown back, and it’s been almost two years since my surgery. – Gina F., Producer

I met Dr. King through a mutual friend of ours who was my internist at the time. I had some back trouble at one point and Dr. King recommended exercises that I could do to straighten myself out. I feel he is a man of extraordinary achievement. In the bright glare of his impressiveness as a neurosurgeon, I forget that he’s also a pilot. To me, those are two things that take an extraordinary amount of drive to become proficient at. I’m impressed with what friends and other physicians say about how respected and well-regarded he is. At the same time, his humanity and good humor are very much intact. He’s a very well-balanced guy. I would absolutely refer him and would say that I cannot recommend this man highly enough. If I ever needed any kind of neurosurgery, God forbid, I don’t think I would entrust it to anyone else. As a human being with a job that intense, it’s so vitally important to be able to keep a balance in your life between your profession and your after-work life. And it’s important to be able to unwind and to allow yourself to recharge. That’s a skill in itself and there are times that I am very, very impressed with his ability to relax and to crack a few jokes, given the intensity of what he does in terms of work. –Seth M., Executive Producer