The Region - News from March 26, 1986

Laura Small, the El Toro girl who was mauled by a mountain lion in an Orange County wilderness park last weekend, suffered brain damage in the attack and is partially paralyzed, but she may recover some of her lost motor ability, doctors said. The 5-year-old is still in serious condition at Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo. “Right now there is paralysis along the whole right side of her body, but a lot of that could get better,” Dr. Sylvain Palmer said. Laura will require future skull surgery, he said, but extensive plastic surgery on her face may not be necessary because most of the wounds are above the hairline. She may still lose her right eye, which was deeply lacerated, said her father, Donald Small. A fund to help pay for Laura’s rehabilitation has been set up in her name at Mercury Savings in El Toro. Tests on a mountain lion shot Monday and believed to be the animal that attacked the girl showed no rabies, authorities said.