South Bay high schooler back on lacrosse field, makes comeback after brain surgery
High school lacrosse player back on the field after recovering from brain surgery
In 2023 Lauren Adair was a normal eighth grader who loved playing lacrosse, but everything changed when her family took a spring break vacation to Palm Springs.
STANFORD, Calif. - In 2023, Lauren Adair was a normal eighth grader who loved playing lacrosse, but everything changed when her family took a spring break vacation to Palm Springs.
AVM diagnosis
The backstory:
Adair recalls having a bad headache among other symptoms.
"I was kind of having hallucinations, I thought someone was watching me," Adair said. "I was throwing up, but I realized it was something really serious when I couldn't talk."
Adair was rushed to the hospital where doctors diagnosed her with AVM, short for arteriovenous malformation, a tangling of blood vessels in the brain that forms before birth.
Doctors showed Adair's family scans of her brain, and told them it could have caused a brain bleed, brain damage or death.
Doctors at the hospital in Palm Springs were unsure if they were going to be able to operate due to the location and size of the AVM, but at Stanford Children's Hospital, doctors felt confident they could successfully operate– the only known cure.
"They told me there is a little bit of wiggle room and they'll be able to operate on me," Adair said. "That's when they decided to do brain surgery."
Once out of her 12-and-a-half-hour surgery, she was intabated for three days. Then she started her road to recovery.
Road to recovery
One of her main motivators--getting back out on the lacrosse field.
"I definitely wanted to go back to lacrosse. It's my favorite sport," Adair said.
Her other motivation was one of the hospital’s therapy dog Margie, and Sam Johnson, a child life specialist.
The pair often visited Adair and Margie would jump onto Adair's hospital bed.
"She would come up on my bed and I got to pet her," Adair said. "It was good to see her especially during times I was really scared."
Hospital reunion
KTVU cameras were there as the three were reunited Tuesday for the first time since Adair was discharged.
Johnson said she learns something different from each patient, but that Adair taught her the power of perseverance.
Today, Johnson, who also played lacrosse as a kid, couldn't be more thrilled that Adair is back on the field.
"I knew she could do it," Johnson said. "To see it in real life I feel an enormous sense of pride."
Adair is equally thankful to the staff at Stanford Children's Hospital, who she credits with saving her life.
"It feels really good being able to play," Adair said. "I'm so grateful I can run, I can do normal things. No one would suspect I had brain surgery. It feels really good to be a normal kid again."
Adair will get the chance to help give back to the hospital Saturday June 21 where she will participate in the Summer Scamper, the hospital's largest fundraiser.
At last check, they were more than $100,000 from their target goal of $600,000.
You can donate here.
Featured
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital provides 'path to recovery' for toddler with neurological condition
"There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for her. A path to recovery for her. We wouldn’t know how to be on that path without them."