Taylor Tippel
Picking Up the Torch: Taylor Tippel’s Miraculous Story
Though Taylor Tippel attended LCS from Kindergarten through 12th grade, the remarkable influence of the school on her life and work exceeds even the excellent education she received there. Her story is really the most inspiring kind, replete with the love of family, the help of old friends and Divine orchestration.
Off to Samford University after graduating LCS in 2013, Taylor experienced the common feelings of indecision about her future.
“My family encouraged me to be a lawyer but I wanted to do work with families and interpersonal relationships. I’m so thankful that a professor told me how I could pair those two interests,” she says.
She pursued a six-year program that would culminate in a bachelor’s degree in family science and a law degree. But the headaches started in 2018 near the end of law school.
“Although,” Taylor says, “I hated calling them headaches because it felt like a full-body pain experience.”
While she struggled to study and function her concerns were dismissed by four physicians over the course of six months.
“Doctors told me I was just anxious due to the pressure of law school.”
No doctor ordered blood work or imaging to rule out something more serious. Her condition progressively worsened through early 2019. She could only stay awake for a couple of hours at a time and the pain was excruciating. At her law school graduation in May, Taylor’s parents became gravely concerned because their daughter was clearly suffering.
With her parents’ help, Taylor found a doctor to perform an MRI. The grim results quickly came back: she had a massive brain tumor that required surgery. Though it was benign, it was putting pressure on both her optic nerve and pituitary gland. Devastated by the diagnosis but hopeful something could be done, Taylor and her family sought a neurosurgeon to perform the delicate operation. Frustratingly, the first two neurosurgeons declined the procedure, stating it could be too risky, and potentially cause blindness, and even death.
This is where Taylor’s LCS family—and God’s remarkable intervention—enter the story. One of Taylor’s best friends from LCS, Christiana Zimmer (formerly Landskroner), messaged her out of the blue to catch up after six years of being out of contact. After relaying the story to her old school friend, Taylor’s life changed course. As it turns out, Christiana’s mom, Glenda Landskroker-Black, was the nurse for another neurosurgeon, who agreed to perform the surgery.
Taylor made a full recovery and afterward a successful attempt at the bar. And that’s not the only reconnection Taylor made with her first alma mater. She was sworn in by Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady, husband of Jennifer Canady, who taught Taylor at LCS.
Today, Taylor practices in Panama City Beach with The Virga Law Firm who, she says, has been incredibly supportive professionally and personally.
“I use the trauma of my experience in my practice because I work exclusively in family law; representing children, parents, and spouses with legal issues of custody, divorce, child support and such. My work has as much to do with the emotional side of life as legal, helping families cope with trauma,” she says. “I always want to get in the fight alongside people because I know what it’s like to have friends and family pick up the torch when I don’t have the strength, to pray for me, to make sure I wasn’t alone.”
Of her experience, Taylor says it’s natural to question God and wonder, why is this happening to me?
“But I’ve learned God has a purpose for stories like mine,” she reflects. “My story is not even my own—it’s to encourage other people. Many have reached out to me to tell me my story has spurred them to keep going. I can tell them how I felt my life was just getting started and it all came crashing down—but God’s using it to help my clients now.”
She said she understands that when Christians pray “Thy will be done” it might include things they have to struggle or persevere through.
“On the other side of it, I might see God’s purpose,” she says to encourage others. “I know I’m on this Earth for the purpose of serving the Lord—and that this experience has made me a better attorney, wife, daughter and friend.”