Lauren Torres is small, even for a 12-year-old.
But her resilience is unparalleled.
A year ago, Torres had a baseball-sized tumor removed from her pancreas at UCI Medical Center.
Now, the Corona girl is back to jazz dance, school and everything else she loves to do — in full health.
Earlier this week, the Torres family revisited staff at the UCI Medical Center in Orange to say thank you and to showcase Lauren’s outstanding progress.
Lauren Torres, 12, holds Lulu, while owner Sarah Phillips holds Pixel. The therapy dogs provided comfort to Torres after she had surgery a year ago to remove a rare, baseball-size benign tumor from her pancreas. She met with hospital staff at UCI Medical Center in Orange on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025 for a reunion. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Vicki Torres gives UCI Medical Center Dr. David K. Imagawa a hug on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025 in Orange. Imagawa performed surgery on Torres’ 11-year-old daughter, Lauren, to remove a rare, baseball-size benign tumor from her pancreas. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Lauren Torres, 12, is given flowers by hospital staff after returning to UCI Medical Center in Orange on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Torres had surgery a year ago to remove a rare, baseball-size tumor on her pancreas. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Lauren Torres, 12, holds Lulu, while Pixel entertains during a reunion with the therapy dogs and hospital staff at UCI Medical Center in Orange on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Torres had surgery to remove a rare, baseball-size benign tumor on her pancreas a year ago. Torres’ mother, Vicki Torres, said Lulu was a positive force in her daughter’s recovery. “Her eyes literally shot open for the first time,” two days after surgery when asked if she wanted the dog to join her in bed. Her answer was “yes.” (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
With striking blue eyes and a goofy persona to boot, Pixel provides therapuetic entertainment at UCI Medical Center on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. The dog had a reunion with former patient, Lauren Torres, 12, one year after Torres had surgury for a benign and rare, baseball-sized tumor on her pancreas. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Lauren Torres, 12, returns to UCI Medical Center in Orange on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, a year after surgery to remove a rare, baseball-size tumor on her pancreas. She is greeted by Pixel, an entertaining therapy dog who aided in her recovery during her 12-day hospital stay. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Show Caption1 of 6Lauren Torres, 12, holds Lulu, while owner Sarah Phillips holds Pixel. The therapy dogs provided comfort to Torres after she had surgery a year ago to remove a rare, baseball-size benign tumor from her pancreas. She met with hospital staff at UCI Medical Center in Orange on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025 for a reunion. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Expand“I was debating going back because I just didn’t know how it would feel, what emotions it would bring back,” said Lauren’s mom, Vicki Torres. “But then I thought that if sharing Lauren’s story can maybe help somebody or give them a positive outlook, then I decided it’d be worth it.”
For Lauren, the visit showcased her resiliency.
Going back to the hospital wasn’t scary. Actually, “it was really fun,” she said.
Her favorite part, she said, was reconnecting with Lulu and Pixel, the two therapy dogs that helped her cope through recovery.
Dr. David Imagawa said Lauren was a “remarkable patient.”
Imagawa is a leading expert in liver and pancreatic tumors who diagnosed Lauren with SPN, a slow-growing pancreatic tumor seen mostly in women in their 20s or 30s. He performed the surgery to remove the tumor.
In doing online research, Vicki Torres said she only found stories of two or three other children across the nation who went through what Lauren did, which is why she wanted to share her daughter’s success story.
Since Lauren’s tumor pressed against a vein, surgery was risky.
Imagawa and a Children’s Hospital Orange County oncologist initially tried a clinical trial to shrink the tumor’s size.
But, after three rounds of treatment, the tumor continued to grow.
Surgery was the only option for a cure.
During the procedure, however, Lauren had an unexpected adverse reaction to anesthesia that Dr. Govind Rajan, the performing anesthesiologist, said he had seen only once prior in his 30-year career.
Consequently, the procedure ran longer than expected. Nevertheless, Imagawa and the UCI Health team navigated a successful eight-hour operation to remove Torres’ tumor.
“It was a surgical miracle,” Rajan said.
Once the tumor was out, Vicki Torres said her daughter’s recovery initially seemed slow.
“The whole thing was pretty traumatic; I was just in kind of a zone,” she said.
“But looking back at it, everything went by so fast. It’s amazing how fast the body can heal in such a short amount of time.”
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