A former patient credited the neurosurgeon who operated on Sen. Edward Kennedy – along with God – for her survival.

Margaret Stone, of Roxboro, said that she suffered from headaches and kept going to different doctors, hoping one could tell what was causing them.

What she didn't know was that she had a big aneurysm, about the size of a quarter.

"I could have fell out in the floor at any time and died," Stone said.

Her good friend and neighbor helped her find Dr. Allan Friedman, chief of the division of neurosurgery in the surgical department and co-director of the neuro-oncology department at Duke University Medical Center.

Friedman is "one of the thought leaders" and a giant in the field of neuro-oncology, said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.

The famed neurosurgeon removed Stone's aneurysm before it burst.

"He was the greatest thing since anything, so good, so kind," she said.

Stone praised Kennedy's decision to seek surgery from the hands of Friedman, who also operated on Bob Dumas, a radio host at G105 in Raleigh, last year.

"He's well blessed, Dr. Friedman (is)," Stone said. "They've made a great decision. I mean, it's your head; it's your life."

Seven years after her surgery by Friedman, Stone credited him, along with a little divine help, for saving exactly those things for her.

"I had faith in God and faith in my doctor that I would be OK," she said. "I think God guided his hands to save my life."