Jake Luppen, lead vocalist of the indie rock band Hippo Campus, announced that he will soon undergo brain surgery.
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The 31-year-old singer announced on Oct. 14 via Instagram that he requires a six-hour procedure to remove a growing brain tumor.
The musician explained that he learned seven years ago that he had a "9 mm lesion" near his basal ganglia — which control motor functions and cognition in the brain — after undergoing an MRI for recurring migraine headaches. A routine scan this summer revealed "possible growth" in the lesion, prompting an EEG (electroencephalogram) test.
"To my surprise, the panic symptoms I had been experiencing were actually focal seizures," Luppen wrote on Instagram.
Indie Rock Star to Undergo Brain Surgery
Luppen is being treated at the famed Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, which diagnosed him with stage two glioma.
"This kind of open brain surgery lasts for about six hours and requires that I'm awake so that they can safely access what they believe is a stage two glioma (slow growing, low grade brain tumor)," he wrote. "They'll remove as much of the lesion as possible and then send it off for testing. Once we know what it is, we'll know how to treat it."
Mayo Clinic classifies glioma as a mass of cells that "press on brain or spinal cord tissue," causing symptoms such as headaches, decline in brain function, memory loss and personality change, among other issues.
Luppen acknowledged that it "might be a second" before he's able to play music again after his brain surgery. The musician announced that Hippo Campus will play one more concert on Oct. 19 in their native St. Paul, Minnesota, before his procedure.
"We're playing a show at Turf Club to rage for one last time before I'm on my ass for a few months," he wrote. "Rest assured I will work as hard as I can to get back on stage asap. I'll keep y'all updated throughout this journey. Gonna be a wild ride."
Hippo Campus later announced that their Turf Club concert has already sold out, adding on Instagram, "See you monday MN."
