Decathlon Medalist Has Brain Surgery
The 17-year-old San Diego County girl who postponed brain tumor surgery to compete in the state Academic Decathlon was released from the hospital Tuesday.
Laura Gipson of Valley Center left UCLA Medical Center five days after undergoing the operation.
“She’s doing very well,” said her mother, Penny Gipson. “She’s walking and talking and happy the surgery’s over.”
In a six-hour operation, doctors on Thursday removed the remaining portion of the girl’s cancerous right frontal lobe.
The fast-growing tumor was discovered in January. In surgery the next month, a third of her right frontal lobe was removed. Doctors said more surgery was needed.
But she postponed the operation so that she could continue to study for the state finals of the Academic Decathlon, which were held March 14-15. She won a silver medal in essay writing with the second-highest score in her division.
Gipson plans to enroll at UC Santa Barbara after graduation from Escondido’s Orange Glen High School this summer, her mother said, adding, “She has a lot of work to do to catch up.”
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