Growing up I would describe myself as your average middle class kid. I was very involved in gymnastics and dance, spending most of my time in the gym. So, one would say I was in great shape as a young child. I don’t remember ever really being “sick” a lot. I might have “pretended” to be sick because I hated school but actually illness I just don’t recall.

That is until 8th grade when I started getting these weird headaches. They were so bad that I couldn’t stay in class and would go home crying. Skip forward to my Freshman year New Years Eve. I’ll never forget this night…My parents being the “cool parents” made us strawberry daiquiris (minus the alcohol) but we thought we were cool non the less. I however laid on the couch in tears not able to see with a headache so bad that I barely made it to the ball drop!

We head back to school and on that 1st day back I can still remember every moment to this day! Sitting in 1st period writing in our journals, silently. My hand goes numb. Weird, I’m thinking to myself but I just keep writing, until my arm starts to go numb and I turn and look at the girl next to me with tears in my eyes. She says, “go tell the teacher, something is wrong.”

You have to understand I was a very strait laced, big the books kid. It was silent in your seats writing time. That meant don’t get up. Finally when I couldn’t feel part of my face I walked to the teachers desk and said “I think something is wrong”

The next part of my day seemed like a blur…the teacher rushed me to the office and before I knew it both of my parents were in the office. Weird why would they both come get me? Next thing I know we are at my family dr office and we don’t wait in the lobby we go straight to a room. What is wrong with these people? My body is numb I’m not dying?

My dr does a quick exam and tells my parents to get me to the hospital for some tests. By this point I have started vomiting and my speech is slurred. The best way I’ve been able to describe it to people is I remember that I would have a thought in my head but when I would say something it would be totally different, for example I’d be thinking “I’m cold” and I’d say “I hungry”. It was so frustrating.

Our local hospital sent us home then called my parents around 3pm and said “get her to Fort Wayne”. now! This hospital is about an hour from our house.

I don’t remember the truck ride there others than raises my head off my moms lap and seeing my grandma, grandpa and aunt on the porch when we dropped my brother off on our way. Next thing I remember is Drs saying she has no reflexes, keep the lights off. That was the longest nights with no answers for my parents! All the drs could say is “you are very lucky, within the hour and she would have been gone!”