Bauman Has Scored 21 Goals This Season

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Less than 10 months ago, sophomore Gabby Bauman was diagnosed with a cavernoma in her brain. While she had successful surgery, she temporarily lost the use of her left arm and needed to relearn how to walk. Today you could never tell things were so scary just a few months ago after watching her have a successful season of lacrosse.

“I feel happy that I can play and be on the field,” said Bauman. “It was one of my biggest fears that I was not going to be able to do something I loved again. Being on the field with my teammates and the people that supported me through the whole thing is an awesome feeling.”

Last spring after a freshman year at St. Francis that included playing with the lacrosse program and scoring three goals in 12 games on the varsity team, Bauman went to the doctor for what she thought was muscles spasms. It made sense after a long season of lacrosse.

“I started having seizures in my left hand, “said Bauman. “I thought it was a muscle spasm and they (the doctors) recognized it was a seizure and I had to go to the hospital.”

She had immediate tests and a spinal tap. Nothing was revealed. Then they did an MRI and they found it – a cavernoma. Medically it is defined as a cluster of abnormal blood vessels, usually found in the brain and spinal cord. It was noncancerous and operable – two positive characteristics but it was still a brain tumor.

“People ask me if it was scary,” said Bauman. “I honestly was not scared. I just wanted to get this thing out of my head. I wanted my arm to stop moving and knew everything was going to be OK. Everyone was telling me it was OK so I had to believe them.”

The surgery at UC Davis Medical Center was successful but she awoke with a host of physical obstacles.

“I could not feel anything in my left arm and I could not move it,” said Bauman. “I reached up to touch my hair and my arm was not moving. I was really freaked out.”

She says it took four days to get feeling back in her fingers. She was in the hospital for two weeks and had daily therapy for what she described as “reconnecting my brain to my hand”.

One of her motivators was getting back on the lacrosse field but it would be a struggle.

“Mentally they had to prepare me that I could not do anything for a really long time,” said Bauman. “After a few months of rest, I could start walking around and then things started going pretty fast towards getting back.”

She looks back on her experience now and she has a lot of gratitude for all the support she received. It helped her heal.

“I felt the support (from St. Francis community),” said Bauman. “It was one of the reasons how I could get though everything and stay positive and not blame myself for anything. All my friends inside and outside school were all there. Even though I can’t remember that, I know I have the pictures and stories from my parents.”

The rest of her summer was spent recovering to get back to school, and then lacrosse.

“It took a lot of work and dedication to get back to where I was,” said Bauman.

She went to physical therapy three times a week and specific hand therapy at the UCD facility.

“(Using my arms) was something I took for granted a month before,” said Bauman. “It is amazing how much you use your fingers and using your hands to talk to someone. I am grateful to have everything I had before.”

She missed four months of the club season but returned to her Tenacity club in January in time for the last tournament and the season with the Troubadours.

“She is at a level where she is getting her confidence back and having fun again,” said Junior Varsity Head Coach Paul Brust. “Coming back from her event, it was important she built the strength and mechanics back to help her confidence.”

Bauman had three goals on Tuesday in the win over Davis and has 21 goals on the season for the record-breaking JV team that won a school record 11 games. On Wednesday she was called up to the Varsity team for the playoffs.

“It feels really good to be contributing to my team and growing with everyone else on the team,” said Bauman. “It makes me feel good that I am doing something on the field.”

Despite the seriousness of her incident, she is fully recovered and has only scars that remind her of the difficult time.

“I don’t think about having surgery last year until I see it (the scars),” said Bauman. “When I put my hair in ponytail, I get these baby hairs (around my scar) that shoot up and it makes me think about it.”

Bauman is one of four callups to the St. Francis Varsity team for the Sacramento Valley Lacrosse League and North Coast Section playoffs.