Doctor says DuRocher's brain surgery "went perfectly"

The doctor who removed a brain tumor from Washington quarterback Johnny DuRocher on Thursday said the 2½-hour surgery "went perfectly."

Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, a neurosurgeon at Harborview Medical Center, said today that he believes all of the tumor was removed, and that it was benign. Ellenbogen said they went into the surgery expecting the tumor to be benign, or non-cancerous.

"Until we take it out we don't know for sure," Ellenbogen said at a news conference at Harborview with DuRocher's parents, John Sr. and Corrina DuRocher. "It was pretty obvious, as of yesterday, that it was benign."

Ellenbogen said the decision to play football again would be up to DuRocher, who has one year of eligibility remaining. But DuRocher said before the surgery that he didn't expect to play football and would instead try to pitch for the Huskies' baseball team.

DuRocher is likely to be released from Harborview over the weekend, Ellenbogen said.

"The chance of a recurrence is not zero, but it's approaching that," Ellenbogen said. "I expect him to live an absolutely normal life, he should not skip a beat."

Ellenbogen said it was "fortuitous" that the tumor was discovered after DuRocher suffered a concussion in the Huskies' loss to Stanford on Nov. 11, but said DuRocher "would have been symptomatic in the next few months" anyway.