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Western Carolinian Volume 73 Number 04

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Item 1 - Western Carolinian Volume 73 Number 04

Western Carolinian Volume 73 Number 04

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Details
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  - Publications (documents)
- Type
  - Text
- Source institution
  - Western Carolina University
- Identifier
  - HL_WesternCarolinian_2007-04-17_Vol73_No04_08
Transcript

April 17, 2007 \ Western Carolinian FEATURES Page 8 Choosing the Bright Side |INTERESED A student with rheu- matic fever shares his op- timism By Robert Herrin Staff Writer . CULLOWHEEAIl over the United States, students attending college aim to get the best grades and get the most out of their education. Some of these students dont have as easy a chore as others, though. Along with the stress of making the grade and the finances that college requires, a number of col- lege students have to also worry about disabilities they have been living with for either a short period or their whole life. Students can find it hard to find help coping with disabilities. Teaching strategies are available from many web- sites that are on the Internet, but most help is directed somewhere other than the student. What better way to learn how to cope with a disability than from other students? Daniel Fisher said of Western Carolina University. Fisher lives in Bryson City and went to high school at Swain County High when he was diagnosed with rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease which can be the result of an untreated bout of strep throat or scarlet fever. It most likely will appear in children ages six to 15. My ninth grade year of high school was when I first felt the ef- fects of the disease, Fisher said with a painful look on his face as he began _ to reminisce about his, j joumey battling me the disease. He: was:an: up-and-coming track star at the time. The disease 'had me convinced that I had arthritis in my joints and I just felt pain every time I tried to move and it would slowly be- gin to wear me down and deter me from school and the like. Not knowing exactly the reason why the disease had caused Fishers body to hurt, the pain crept up his hand and to his arm and shoulder, but in the process Fisher to lost the mobility he once had in his arm. Even though this had hap- pened, because of the sports and all that I was involved in, a person wouldnt take something like this too seriously right off the bat, Fisher said after his first battle with what he still couldnt identify. It slowly became a living, breathing problem. It would act as if it were a parasite, quickly taking over Fishers body by moving into the joints around his neck and jaw and traveling to his other arm paralyzing it. It wasnt until that next Sun- day that the seriousness of the problem became apparent, Fisher said. On a quiet Sunday morning Fisher woke abruptly with the shock of his life. As he tried to get out of the bed, he couldnt move. Horror gripped him as he lay helpless trying to manage movement of some sort. The only thing I could do was blink my eyelids; quite literally, I was just there stiff as a board. I finally was able to get my jaw to start working and started to scream for my dad, crying at this point because I was utterly and totally freaked out, expressed Fisher when remembering what he called the worst moment of [his] life. At the time that this had taken place, Jamie Fisher, Daniels father, had gotten him dressed and taken Dan- iel to the emergency room at Swain County Memorial Hospital. The doc- tors there had no idea what was wrong with Fisher except that whatever it was, it was serious. They ran some tests and finally gave him some steroids and an- tibiotics and sent him home, still unable to move. I think I could move my knee and get some function out of it, but it hurt so bad that all I could do was cry as the pain came, Fisher said. A few more weeks came and went as Fisher suffered through pain and bewilderment as to what exactly was wrong with him. Doctors ran test after test trying to figure out why he was in so much pain. After a while, Fisher was sent to a heart specialist who ex- pressed confusion because his pain was in his limbs, not his heart. The doctors ran tests draw- ing blood and ran EKGs. They found shortly thereafter that one of the valves in his heart had been leaking. They found this leak and im- mediately ran a test for a disease that had not been in Bryson City for over 40 years, Fisher said. My grandfa- ther was actually the last case that was treated when they found it. The disease is called rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever mainly affects the normal functions of the heart, but can also wreak havoc in other parts the body. According to Medical News Today, heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in the United States. Rheumatic fever can do what it did to me and go straight for the joints before your heart. It caused for me an accelerated state of arthritis that took my 14-year-old body and gave it the arthritis of 90-year-old man, Fisher said. After the correct diagnosis, the doctors sat Fisher down and explained that he will never be rid of Rheumatic fever; it will stay with him until his death. The treatment for the disease is a monthly shot of Bicillin, a pure peni- cillin given to Fisher in his hip or quad muscle of the leg. The needle is about 10 inches in length so as to penetrate. all the way to the bone. The Bicillin is frozen so it is injected into the body as a thick liquid. This in turn causes ex- cruciating pain and Fisher cries every time that he is to get these shots. Fishers heart wasnt damaged as bad as was thought, but the heart specialist told him that he will never be able to play sports again. Being a scho- lastic athlete, Fisher refused this verdict and went on to play high school sports and put his body through the ropes of recovery. I didnt know how to stop, Fisher said. I was the captain of every _team that I was on, I felt like the life I lived depended on sports in a way and when they told me the news of not be- Are you involved i Student Media C HELP US ing able to play sports, it made me want to more than ever. _ Fisher sustained serious inju- ries, especially while playing football. A simple hit for most was a devastating blow for him. He broke his ankle twice along with the tearing of his knee. His collar bone, shoulder and wrists were especially susceptible to breaking; he broke his wrist four times. The whole right side of his body was deployed in a war of pain and recovery throughout the football games. T kept playing sports and, by the grace of God, I survived football and track, putting my body through pain and tears, Fisher said. The monthly shots did help in lessening the pain, though. College track would soon be coming into my future as I would cer- tainly make the track team, but because of the torture I put my body through in high school I was soon ending my track career due to the stress my joints had already taken. There have been days where I have not been able to get up and get going. He suffered in his school work as he was first going through the torture of shots and chronic pain. Getting from class to class and constant joint pres- sure from walking all day and sitting made life uneasy and it quickly became a hindrance. For a while, Fisher used a wheelchair to get around. It took some time to get back into sports, but in the junior and senior year of high school, Fisher had been doing well enough to be in the top of his class. It took a lot of hard wok and his capability to play sports, he aulekdy learned that track in college was too stressful and came to the realization that sports were now out of the ques- tion, which in turn became a big hin- drance to him. With the disease always bearing its teeth, Fisher has had to miss a lot of class work because of constant hospital visits for treatment. Its not too bad, Fisher said. T keep up with hard work. Throughout his college career, Fisher did have benefits from this ir- regular disease. He was able to take advantage of scholarships and go to college not worrying about paying the government back. T didnt just give up and I stuck out in the crowd because of the dis- ease, Fisher said. It is reasonably the main reason that I have been able to go to school. Awareness of debilitating ill- nesses can lead to the enjoyment of what others dont see, such as the beau- ty of running when you were told that you would never be able to again, or the ability to actually go to school. Respect for life becomes a great advantage for those with disabilities. Fisher offers this advice to those living with disabilities on a college campus: Dont get down about the problems that you have, but give yourself the opportunity to benefit from a disease and make the beast that lives within you your strength, not your weakness, Fisher said. IN STUDENT MEDIA LEADER- SHIP? Its time to apply! Make a difference through Student Media! POSITIONS AVAILABLE: Director, Catamount Communications Station Manager, TV62 General Manager, - WCAT Editor-In-Chief, Western Carolinian Editor-In-Chief, Gadfly Applications are available in the Old Student Union 209A or email Katherine _ Smith at smithk@ wcu.edu. Applications due April 21. Please call 227-2195 with any questions. dent media survey on ! iGO HometactionagetyHome

Object

Description

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.
Details
- Creator
  - Western Carolina University
- Format
  - Publications (documents)
- Type
  - Text
- Date
  - Date original: 2008-04-17
- Extent
  - Dimension: 14" x 11.5"
  - Pages: 14
- Subject - Topic
- Location
  - Jackson County (N.C.)
  - Cullowhee (N.C.)
- Source institution
  - Western Carolina University
- Source Collection
  - WCU Students Newspapers Collection
- Identifier
  - HL_WesternCarolinian_2007-04-17_Vol73_No04
- Repository
  - Western Carolina University Hunter Library

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