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Eight-year-old Jacob Harpel from Glencoe, Minn., was diagnosed with a plum-sized brain tumor the day before Thanksgiving last year. He had aggressive brain surgery at Mayo Clinic in August to remove the tumor; with the surgery he had a 50% chance of losing his peripheral vision on one side and a 50% chance of speech and comprehension deficits. Within 24 hours of the surgery, Jacob was playing the piano at Saint Marys Hospital, and just three days later he went home tumor-free.
This week, exactly a year from the initial diagnosis, Jacob had follow-up appointments at Mayo Clinic -- he's still tumor-free, his vision is 20/20 including peripheral vision, he has no speech or comprehension deficits and he's seizure-free. It's quite a different Thanksgiving for the whole Harpel family.
View the videos below to hear the Harpel family tell their story, including their description of playing "Just Dance" on the Wii during Jacob's video EEG, Jacob saying that the surgery was easy, "I just slept the whole time," and the support of their family and friends. And as for their Mayo Clinic physicians? Jacob says about Dr. Nicholas Wetjen, his pediatric neurosurgeon - "I LOVE that man!"
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