KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasRemarkable Woman Gives Hope for Roy
(Oct. 17) -- The hemicraniectomy may sound extreme to a layman, but doctors say it's actually a common procedure for brain-injured patients. A local woman underwent the procedure eight years ago after attackers left her for dead. And she credits the procedure with saving her life.
Lorraine Mosca is a remarkable woman. Her amazing story is an inspiration and gives hope for Roy Horn's recovery. She survived a brutal beating and five brain surgeries. One of these, the same life-saving brain surgery Eyewitness News was told Roy Horn underwent. Lorraine is a living testament that the surgery can save a life. But recovery is a very long process.
Her ordeal began eight years ago. In October 1995, 23-year-old Lorraine Mosca was working as a clerk at a Las Vegas music store when a gang of more than 20 teens swarmed in and began robbing the store. Mosca was punched, knocked down, trampled and left for dead.
She spent several weeks in a drug-induced coma to reduce the swelling of her brain. The hemicraniectomy procedure is where doctors removed part of her skull over an entire cerebral hemisphere for reduction of increased intracranial pressure. Or in layman's terms, the a part of the skull was removed to give her brain room to swell.
Just five months after the attack, March 1996, Lorraine talked to Eyewitness News about her life saving surgery, "They're putting on part of my skull back because it's the brain and nothing else so they're going to put, not a plate, but part of the skull back so I don't have to wear a helmet anymore."
Three men are still in prison for their roles in the robbery that led to Lorraine Mosca's injuries. A jury orderd the men to pay her $22 million for the head trauma they inflicted. But to this day, she has not received a cent.
Now eight years later, Lorraine talked to Eyewitness News again about the brain surgery that once again is making headlines. Lorraine Mosca is a living testament the surgery can help save a life. And now has this message for fellow patient Roy Horn," Be a fighter. Don't give up!"
