Nine years after the right portion of her brain was removed, Christina Santhouse considers herself blessed.

The talk-show guests included a child who can't feel pain, brothers who are allergic to sunlight and a girl who has lived for four months with a piece of her skull missing.

Christina Santhouse, 17, and her mother, Lynne Catarro, took their place among them at a recent taping in New York City of the nationally televised "Montel Williams Show." The segment was called "Medical Miracles."

>> Read more: Today, Christina's greatest challenge is motherhood

A show producer, Jennifer Tuttle, says a decision on when it would air won't be made for another five to six weeks, but she believes it could air sometime this year.

When producers were searching nationally for guests who are living miracles, they came looking for Christina, according to Tuttle. The cheery, blond-haired Bristol Township teenager gets good grades at Conwell-Egan Catholic High School, where she's a senior. Christina also travels the world, bowls competitively and drives a car — without the right half of her brain.

When she was 8, surgeons removed her brain's right hemisphere because it was ravaged by a disease called Rasmussen's syndrome, which eats away at the organ. Without the surgery, the scores of violent seizures Christina was having each day would have caused severe brain damage and, ultimately, death, according to doctors and her mother.

The surgery left her with a limp on her left side, a paralyzed left arm and visual impairments. Through therapy and with time, she has learned to overcome those challenges and do things with one hand.

Christina considers herself blessed.

"When I got sick, it was, like, 'Is this how I'm going to live for the rest of my life - with seizures?' I feel like I've gotten a second chance. Even though life's hard now, it's better than it would have been," says Christina following the taping.

>> Read more about Christina Santhouse's journey.

Her only wish is to regain movement in her left arm. "I wish there were someone, a doctor, that could help me move my hand," she says.

Over the years, Christina has grown accustomed to media interest in her story. At least once a year, a television show contacts her. So far, she has appeared on "Ripley's Believe It or Not," "Good Morning America," "Good Day Philadelphia" and "It's a Miracle."

The "Ricki Lake Show" contacted her last year, but she turned it down because she was worried it might have the wrong tone. "I wanted it to be a nice show," says Christina.

Her mother and her stepfather, Albert Catarro, let Christina choose television appearances. "I don't mind her doing any of them," says Lynne, "but I don't want it to be intrusive to her education."

Christina missed just one day of school for the "Montel Williams Show" taping. The show sent a car to pick up Christina and her mother at their home and paid for their overnight hotel stay in New York. The next morning, they and the other guests reported to the studio. "He tapes three shows a day," says Christina.

She and her mother waited a few hours until it was their turn to be interviewed. Studio stylists did their hair and makeup. "I felt important when they were doing it," says Christina.

She only met Williams, the show's host, during the eight minutes he was interviewing her and her mother. "I thought he was nice," she says.

Williams wanted to hear about the disease, the violent seizures it caused and the surgery. "I don't even remember what I said," says Christina, smiling. "I was so nervous."

Though television interviews were not new to her, speaking in front of a live audience was.

"They clapped when I came out and they said, 'That's amazing' or 'wow' or 'ahh,' " says Christina of the audience. "The studio was so small, too. They make it look like there are all these people." She guesses there were about 50 people in the audience.

Lynne hopes Christina's story and the stories of the other guests inspire viewers. "The surgery was the surgery. It's what you do after that — how you handle the aftermath," she says. "My agenda was to talk about now and talk about her future and how you can survive in the world with half a brain."

This year, Christina is touring colleges and plans to study speech pathology. Though people might question whether miracles are real, Lynne believes her daughter has the life she has today because of them.

During the darkest hours surrounding Christina's brain surgery, Lynne, a practicing Catholic, says her prayers to St. Therese of Lisieux, also known as The Little Flower, were answered.

"The decision was heart-rending to make," she says. "Can you imagine what it feels like to decide to have half your child's brain removed?"

Prayer, Lynne says, helped her family through it.

"When I was sick," says Christina, "there were always roses everywhere."

Roses are the sign of Little Flower. And Lynne says there were several signs that her family's prayers to Little Flower were heard.

Moments before Christina was to go in for surgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, the regular priest was unavailable, and a substitute gave her Communion. "He told us his name was Father Rose," says Lynne.

One time while she was in the hospital, Christina was crying because her head hurt. Lynne and her mother sent for the nurse and said a prayer to St. Therese while they waited. When the nurse arrived, Lynne says, "She said, 'I smell roses, and it's coming from her,' and pointed to Christina. She was fast asleep and no longer in pain."

On another occasion, a business associate of Catarro's sent Christina a bouquet of roses, not knowing what it meant to the family.

"St. Therese has given her the grace," says Lynne. "Some people don't believe in intercession — and I just believe."