Bisram is a mother, daughter, wife, and an award-winning journalist. Now, she's telling her own story about a life-or-death health scare.  

She was off the air for several weeks this past spring, dealing with a serious health issue that started with headaches.

"I remember it was, like, to the left, the side [of my head] here. And it was just like the same place, and it just wouldn't go away," Bisram told CBS News New York's Cindy Hsu. "My husband always equates it to you're not sleeping enough and you're not hydrating enough, which, to be fair, is probably true most of the time."

Bisram said the headaches persisted and lasted for months, so she pushed for an MRI. She was shocked to learn she had a brain aneurysm, which is when a blood vessel in the brain swells, developing a bulging or balloon-like shape.

"I felt like I was a walking time bomb," she said.

NYU Langone Health Long Island neurointerventionalist Dr. Charlotte Chung said Bisram's aneursym was "a little bit more dangerous than many other ones."

"I was so scared that I wrote out my wishes," Bisram said. "Just in case I didn't come back home."  

Chung performed a procedure called a flow diversion, redirecting the blood in Bisram's brain using a mesh tube or stent that was inserted in a vein through her wrist.

Thankfully, the surgery was a success.

"Once we put the stent in, we're gonna give it half a year, one year for it to disappear," Chung said.

After several days in the hospital and rest at home, Bisram was ready to get back to her passion – sharing stories, including her own.

"I feel like I would be doing an injustice if I didn't tell my story," she said. "I felt like I had to come back and prove something to people, that you will be OK, too ... I think part of me wanted to prove it to myself."

She has been posting updates on social media and volunteered at the annual Brain Aneurysm Foundation Long Island Run/Walk.

"I was like, yes, sign me up. [They asked me] do you want to speak? Yes, sign me up," Bisram said.

She added, "I love life and I feel like there's so much to live, and I wanna make sure that I live it out until that day."

In the United States, nearly 1 in 50 people live with an unruptured brain aneurysm with no symptoms at all. Annually, about 30,000 people will suffer from a brain aneurysm that ruptures, and half of them will die.

John DeSantis was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January, but the warning signs started only shortly before. 

"I thought I had a virus. I would eat, have plenty of food, like I normally would, then towards the end of the day, I would get a lot of stomach pain," he said.

Two endoscopies later, doctors found a tumor blocking his digestive tract. A stent helped at first before he got surgery.

"I knew it was serious, but I had a lot of confidence in Dr. Radkani," DeSantis said. 

Doctor Pejman Radkani at Northwell Health said the tumor was so big, it was blocking DeSantis' pancreas, bile duct and intestine pathway.

If they hadn't discovered the cancer when they did, DeSantis would have likely had less than three months to live and maybe up to a year with chemotherapy, doctors said.

Radkani said he was able to remove the entire tumor during a nine-hour surgery, doing a robotic Whipple procedure.

"I sent the margins ... to pathology, and they told me that all the margins are negative," Radkani said. "In my mind, we had passed the first step of cure and survival."

Now, DeSantis shows no sign of cancer, but his story is rare.

The Lustgarten Foundation, citing American Cancer Society data, said just 13% of patients survive five years.

If the cancer is caught while still localized, the number jumps to 40%. But only 10-15% of patients are diagnosed early enough for surgery.

DeSantis knows how lucky he is, and his message is simple.

"Just don't put it off if you don't feel right," he said.

The Lustgarten Foundation's Pancreatic Cancer Research walk is also coming up on Oct. 4 on Long Island. CBS News New York's John Dias will be hosting the fundraiser at Jones Beach State Park at Field 5. 

As of Wednesday, 23 people have tested positive for Legionnaires' disease in the Melrose and Morrisania sections. Two of those 22 patients have died, and three patients are currently hospitalized.

The city health department says 10 cooling towers within the impacted area in the 10451, 10455, 10456, or 10459 ZIP codes tested positive for Legionella bacteria, and seven of those 10 towers were found to have live Legionella bacteria, which causes the disease.

The health department says the locations of those seven towers are:

• 567 Melrose Ave.
• 3339 Park Ave.
• 820 Concourse Village West
• 470 E. 161st St.
• 890 Washington Ave.
• 1160 Teller Ave.
• 1265 Franklin Ave.

Health officials say all 10 of the cooling towers have already been cleaned and disinfected.

"We are moving decisively and deliberately to protect New Yorkers from this Legionnaires' disease cluster in the South Bronx. We've taken an aggressive response," Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin said in a statement. "We will continue to move with urgency and keep New Yorkers informed as this investigation unfolds."

Officials have not yet determined which, if any, of those cooling towers is the source of the South Bronx cluster.

Cooling tower testing in the area is ongoing, and the health department says they will continue to release locations of towers that contain Legionella bacteria as those results become available.

Anyone who has recently spent time in the impacted area should seek medical attention if they develop flu-like symptoms. More information on the disease can be found on the health department's website at nyc.gov/legionnaires.

This is the second Legionnaires' disease cluster in the city this year. This summer, 11 people died and a total of 94 people were sickened in connection to an outbreak on the Upper East Side.

Earlier this year, the DOJ subpoenaed the hospital, seeking records of patients under age 18 who received gender-affirming care and the providers who treated them.

An appeals court later blocked the government from seeking the records.

The DOJ now says NYU will pay $8.5 million to settle the dispute.

Friday, the hospital said they entered into the settlement to protect patients' privacy.

"We believe this resolution is in the best interests of our patients and their families, protecting them as well as our providers and the institution from prolonged litigation. It allows us to remain focused on our mission of delivering top-quality patient care, advancing medical research, and educating future physicians," the hospital said in a statement, in part.

NYU Langone says they have denied any wrongdoing or liability in the agreement.

Myeshia Price, an Indiana University associate professor of human development, says stopping the care could impact patients' physical and mental health.

"For some of them, particularly if they are receiving hormones or things like that, the way they look may change if those are pulled back," Price said. "So I do think there would be some social repercussions to that in terms of how people treat them, how they present to the world."

The hospital says that care for patients over the age of 18 will continue, along with pediatric mental health care programs.

New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin announced the death on social media. 

"I am saddened to share that a second person has died in connection with the South Bronx Legionnaires' cluster," Martin wrote.

There have been at least 13 confirmed cases of the disease associated with this cluster, which is located in zip codes 10451 and 10456, in Morrisania and Melrose. 

Martin said that the 10 cooling towers that tested positive as part of the cluster have since been disinfected. 

The cooling towers are located at:

• 820 Concourse Village West
• 234 E. 149th St.
• 1 E. 161st St.
• 470 E. 161st St.
• 1265 Franklin Ave.
• 567 Melrose Ave.
• 3339 Park Ave.
• 1160 Teller Ave.
• 890 Washington Ave.
• 1085 Washington Ave.

A town hall about the cluster was held Tuesday night for area residents.       

Legionnaires' disease is spread by breathing in mist containing the bacteria. It's not contagious. 

Symptoms include cough, fever, shortness of breath, muscle aches, headaches, fatigue, confusion, and gastrointestinal issues.  

Anyone who lives in or has visited the area since August and has flu-like symptoms is urged to seek medical attention immediately.  

The South Bronx was also the epicenter of the city's deadliest Legionnaires' disease outbreak on record, which happened in 2015. Sixteen people died in that outbreak. City cooling tower regulations were passed shortly after.

Residents say they have counted 400 cancer cases.

"I started discovering a lot of people were dying of cancer around our block. Forty, 60, 80, 200, and we're like, there's something going on here," resident Sal Liguori said.

Liguori is among the residents leading the charge to uncover the cause of the alleged cluster. He was diagnosed with leukemia this year. In 2022, his son Anthony died of cancer. Liguori's home is right on the border of the former Aeromarine site.

"Forty years of lies and neglect and not caring for the public is not acceptable," he said.  

At a town hall meeting Wednesday evening, independent testing results were released. Scientist Scott Smith performed third-party testing of the Aeromarine site and some surrounding properties.

He was hired by the people of Keyport following growing concerns that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection was not being transparent in their own testing and findings.

While the DEP declined an on-camera interview before Wednesday's independent results were released, a spokesperson maintained that recent DEP-conducted tests indicate no drinking water contamination and no soil contamination at the site, and that there is no official cancer cluster designation. The DEP added they plan to meet on the Keyport contamination concerns on Sept. 22.  

"If we admit there is a problem and we can get some answers, this community can move forward," Smith said.

According to Smith, some properties showed little-to-no concerning readings, while other properties, such as Liguori's, had elevated levels of benzo(a)pyrene, lead and dioxins – all of which are carcinogens.

Smith says more testing is required before a conclusion is reached.

"So this is a mix of good news and not necessarily bad news, but where we need to follow up and try to get some people answers," he said.

Both sides do agree on one thing:  a conclusion is yet to be reached.

"You need to wake up because this is as real as it's getting right now," Liguori said.

The next round of testing, which includes groundwater sampling, begins Thursday.

In a fact sheet on the initiative, the White House said it was issuing refunds after the Biden administration overcharged ACA enrollees though "plan exchange 'user fees' that were passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums."

The White House said the checks are part of the administration's goal to lower healthcare costs for Americans. The payments are set to go out starting in October.

"President Trump is delivering on promises to lower costs for American patients by putting them first and taking on big health insurance companies, drug manufacturers and other corporate giants that have used the status quo in Washington to raise healthcare costs for Americans," the White House said on Thursday. 

The announcement comes less than two months before the midterm elections, with pocketbook issues expected to be a key issue as voters cast their ballots. Three-quarters of nearly 2,200 respondents said their income is not keeping up with inflation, according to a July CBS News poll.

Mr. Trump separately pledged this week to send a $5,000 dividend to every U.S. adult if Republicans maintain control of Congress after the midterms. 

Monthly premiums for Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, health plans have soared after Congress last year allowed coverage subsidies to expire. Some enrollees subsequently downgraded their plans, while others have decided to forgo insurance altogether after their plan costs spiked.

In a KFF poll fielded between February and March, 80% of returning ACA participants said their premiums, deductibles, or coinsurance and copays were higher than last year.

Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, said in a statement on Friday that the Trump administration's ACA payments will mostly go to "middle-income people who lost subsidies when Congress did not extend enhanced tax credits, and are now paying in many cases thousands of dollars more."

The checks will cover roughly 5% of the 19 million people who receive insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchange.