The Distance

"In 1888, William Williams Keen became one of the first surgeons to successfully remove a brain tumor. A big win. It's true. You can look it up. What's harder to find, however, are stories of all the times old Double Billy K tried to pull a tumor out of a brain and lost. The losses must have happened. A surgeon must always be prepared to lose. An in neurosurgery, with the big tumors. We lose those battles as often as we succeed. The key, though, win or lose, is to never fail. And the only way to fail is not to fight. So you fight until you can't fight anymore. Hold up your head and enter the arena and face the enemy. Fight until you can't fight anymore. Never let go. Never give up. Never run. Never surrender. Fight the good fight. Even when it seems inevitable that you're about to go down swinging. Why do we even try when the barriers are so high and the odds are so low? Why don't we just pack it in and go home? It would be so, so much easier. It's because in the end, there's no glory in easy. No one remembers easy. They remember the blood and the bones and the long, agonizing fight to the top. And that is how you become legendary."

- Amelia Shepherd

 is the fourteenth episode of the eleventh season and the 234th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
In this Amelia-centric episode, Amelia engages in the surgery of a lifetime as a crowd of doctors look on from the gallery. With Stephanie by her side, she begins operating on Dr. Herman, but quickly realizes it's far more difficult than she anticipated. Meanwhile, Bailey becomes skeptical when Arizona takes on one of Herman’s cases.

Main Cast

 * Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
 * Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev
 * Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey
 * James Pickens, Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber
 * Sara Ramírez as Dr. Callie Torres
 * Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt
 * Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins
 * Sarah Drew as Dr. April Kepner
 * Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery
 * Caterina Scorsone as Dr. Amelia Shepherd
 * Camilla Luddington as Dr. Jo Wilson
 * Jerrika Hinton as Dr. Stephanie Edwards
 * Kelly McCreary as Dr. Maggie Pierce
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd (credit only)

Guest Stars

 * Geena Davis as Dr. Nicole Herman
 * Jason George as Dr. Ben Warren
 * Marla Sokoloff as Glenda Castillo

Co-Starring

 * Mike Miller as Intern
 * Danny Nero as Anesthesiologist

Nicole Herman

 * Diagnosis:
 * Grade IV astrocytoma
 * Blindness
 * Stroke


 * Doctors:
 * Amelia Shepherd (neurosurgeon)
 * Meredith Grey (general surgeon)
 * Stephanie Edwards (surgical resident)


 * Treatment:
 * Tumor resection

Nicole was finally taken in to have her tumor removed. Amelia started by injecting dye into the tumor so she could see where the tumor ended and brain matter began. She ran into a few road blocks along the way, but she was able to work around the difficulties and remove the tumor before placing the radioactive seeds. Post-op, Nicole didn't wake up for several days. Amelia searched desperately for a cause and found signs of a stroke on an MRI. Despite this, Nicole woke up, okay except for being completely blind.

Glenda Castillo

 * Diagnosis:
 * Fetal sacrococcygeal teratoma
 * Fetal anemia
 * Mirror syndrome
 * Fetal cardiac arrest


 * Doctors:
 * Arizona Robbins (fetal surgeon)
 * Miranda Bailey (general surgeon)
 * Alex Karev (pediatric surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Tumor resection

Glenda was taken in to have her baby's tumor removed immediately because she had mirror syndrome, so the sicker the baby got, the sicker she got. They have her platelets before surgery because her platelet count was critically low. The baby was anemic, so they transferred packed red blood cells. Because Herman was not present, Bailey pressured Arizona to deliver the baby and remove the tumor that way, but she decided not to, instead opening the uterus and removing the tumor without delivering the baby. The went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated. Arizona was able to do that and then complete the surgery. Glenda was discharged to go home. She was told to come back in a month for a post-op visit.

Callie's Patient

 * Diagnosis:


 * Doctors:
 * Callie Torres (orthopedic surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Meniscus repair

Callie's meniscus repair was pushed back to make room for Herman's surgery.

Stephanie Edwards

 * Diagnosis:
 * Fainting


 * Doctors:
 * Richard Webber (general surgeon)


 * Treatment:

Stephanie fainted in the OR just before they went to place the radioactive seeds. She later woke up and was disappointed because she thought she'd missed the whole surgery. However, she rallied and came back just in time to close.

Jackson's Patient

 * Diagnosis:


 * Doctors:
 * Jackson Avery (plastic surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * Abdominal wall reconstruction

Jackson left April for a moment to check on a post-op patient in ICU.

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode's title originated from the song , originally sung by Cake.
 * This episode scored million viewers.
 * Filming for this episode was scheduled from December 17, 2014 to January 3, 2015 with a holiday break from December 22, 2014 to January 2, 2015. This means it was being filmed simultaneously with Staring at the End.
 * This episode marks the return of April Kepner, who didn't appear in the last two episodes because actress Sarah Drew had her baby.
 * According to the date on a prop, this episode starts on March 2, 2015.