The Cards I Was Dealt
By Sarah Mendenhall
In October of 2016, I had just begun what was supposed to be an amazing senior year of high school. I was involved in our show choir, theater show, and a student athletic trainer on top of academics – to say I was busy was an understatement. I had applied to college and was preparing to audition for the music program that January.
One Friday in October, I went with some friends to day one of Austin City Limits (ACL) to listen to music and I felt great. Saturday was a different story. I got up and got ready with my friends and we headed down to the park. We listened and danced to music for most of the day until that evening when I started to feel really cold. I felt chilly to the point that I bought a blanket to wrap up in, which should have been a red flag. While October can get chilly in Texas, early October is still very warm. By that evening, I had skipped shows and gone downhill physically. On Sunday morning, I was a wreck, and my family knew I must be really sick if I was missing my favorite festival. My dad flew down and drove me and my car home that night.
We were convinced I had the flu. I had fever, an upset stomach, chills, body aches, and congestion. When I went to the doctor on Monday, they ran flu and strep tests only for those to come back negative. I was told that it was just a bad virus and I was sent home with medicine. Two days later, after continuing to feel the same, we went back only to receive the same message.
My memory stops here. The rest was told to me, because I don’t have any memory of it. Friday afternoon, my mom received a call when I didn’t show up for my tutoring session. This was strange because I had been feeling better the day before. My stepmom found me at home – unsure of who I was, where I was, or who she was. I was combative – unlike me at all – and clearly unwell.
We immediately went to the emergency room where I was quickly admitted and sedated. Lots of tests were ran under the suspicion I had meningitis. After the tests came back negative, they suspected something else may be going on and sent me to the children’s hospital intensive care unit. I lost all movement from my neck down within 48 hours, was transferred to Children’s Health in downtown Dallas, and put on life support with an intubation tube. My doctors told my family they were unsure I would make it and had very difficult conversations.
After a few weeks, they found the issue: Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM). I had two lesions on my spinal cord and double brain swelling. Doctors tried everything they could think to do, and I think it saved my life. Once stable enough, the decision was made to start physical therapy. With all my tubes and lines, I was put on a tilt table and although I was unaware, physical therapists would stretch my arms move my body, help me weight bear on my legs, and “throw” a beach ball. Slowly but surely, a thumb moved, and then fingers, then an arm. Things were coming back but we didn’t know how much I would improve.
This is where my memory joins the party, as I like to say. I had finally made it through the worst of it and was extubated. I was finally breathing on my own. Once I left the hospital, I entered an inpatient rehab center where I continued intensive physical, cognitive, and occupational therapy. I finally took my first steps again in January, right around my 18th birthday. The excruciating nerve pain I had been dealing with was slowly subsiding, and I left the rehab center in February.
I continued outpatient rehab and returned to school – finally back to something normal in my life. I was grateful but scared to come back to school in a wheelchair. My physical therapist helped me create a goal that I achieved in June: walking across my graduation stage with my service dog, Oliver. Since then, I have been out of my wheelchair walking most of the time with little assistance. I graduated from college and started my career helping nonprofits with their marketing.
To say it’s been a journey is an understatement. I have fought some low lows but have also enjoyed so many high highs. While I never want someone to face what I have been through, AFM has allowed me to see so many things in life that I wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. It’s taught perseverance, patience, determination, and to truly appreciate the little things in life, especially from a mobility standpoint.
“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand” ~Randy Pausch
Connect with Sarah, hear more stories, and get to know the SRNA community at the upcoming South Central Walk-Run-N-Roll in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas this October. Support by attending, donating, or helping us spread the word. Find all upcoming Walk-Run-N-Roll events on our website.
Our “In Their Own Words” blog posts represent the views of the author of the blog post and do not necessarily represent the views of SRNA.
