Young dancer cured of pancreas tumor reunites with her medical team
February 18, 2025
A joyful reunion. Left to right: Nurse Annie Reyes, Lauren Torres, Lulu, Pixel and her owner Sarah Phillips.
IN THE NEWS: Nearly a year after a lengthy and complex surgery to remove a rare pancreatic tumor, 12-year-old dancer Lauren Torres returned to UCI Medical Center in Orange on Monday to thank the medical team that saved her life and brought her back to health.
Accompanied by her parents Vicki and Sean Torres, Lauren reunited with her surgeon Dr. David Imagawa, one of her nurses, Annie Reyes, and Lulu and Pixel, the UCI Health pet therapy dogs that brought her joy throughout her 12-day recovery in intensive care. Their reunion was captured by NBC4 News.
“Lauren had what is called a solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas and these are rare growths,” said Imagawa, who successfully removed the baseball-sized tumor during an eight-hour surgery that is rarely ever performed on children.
“Normally, when they do occur, it’s in women in their 20s and 30s. In someone her age, it’s an exceptionally unusual finding.”
“I just knew I was going to be safe,” Lauren told NBC4 News. “I knew there were a lot of people around me who knew what they were doing.”
She was delighted to see her favorite nurse, Anne Reyes, who presented her with a bouquet of roses and a Disney sweatshirt. Her face lit up with delight at the sight of her furry friends, Lulu and Pixel, whose presence helped her cope with stress and anxiety during the first days of recovery.
“They helped me get my mind off everything that was going on,” Lauren said.
David K. Imagawa, MD, PhD, is a fellowship-trained UCI Health surgeon and national expert in minimally invasive liver and pancreatic surgery. He has performed more than 1,000 Whipple procedures, the type of surgery Lauren Torres had. His clinical interests include pancreatic cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver cancer, bile duct cancer and islet cell transplantation. A professor of surgery with the UC Irvine School of Medicine, Imagawa is the author or co-author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. He also has been the principal investigator on numerous clinical trials for hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic malignancies.
Make an appointment at UCI Health Liver and Pancreas Services by calling 888-717-4463 or request one online ›
Find on-demand care at UCI Health using our On Demand Care Finder ›
Read more
