Photo By Lisa Boucher
Mariah Woodward may seem wise beyond her years. Surviving a life-threatening illness has a way of causing that.Bellows Free Academy, Fairfax
Mariah Woodward: Survivor
Life-threatening illness fails to diminish spiritBy LISA M. BOUCHER :
Messenger Correspondent
FAIRFAX—A couple of years ago Mariah Woodward didn't think she was going to live to graduate from high school.
Ravaged by an unnamed rare blood disorder that kept her confined to the hospital for months, her perplexed doctors finally sent her home, not knowing what else to do when none of the treatments were making a difference in the severely ill teenager's condition.
Although graduating only one year later than she was supposed to this 19-year-old may appear to be decades beyond her current peers and more than ready to move ahead.
Woodward's odyssey began in junior high when she developed Nephrotic Syndrome, a kidney disorder that causes the body to excrete too much protein in the urine and is usually caused by damage to the small blood vessels in the kidneys that filter waste and water from the blood.
When damaged, these blood vessels, which keep blood protein from seeping into the urine, don't function properly and protein leaks out of the blood stream causing edema (swelling) all over the body. Woodward missed about eight months of school during seventh and eighth grade due to Nephrotic Syndrome.
She recovered from the kidney ailment and attended school for her entire freshman year. In the tenth grade Woodward began not feeling well again and by the second half of the year, she was back in the hospital where she remained until the following fall receiving numerous "shot-in-the-dark" treatments for a disease that none of her doctors could diagnose.
A mysterious blood disorder was affecting her white blood cell count, causing a decrease in her immunity, leaving her susceptible to illness and infection. Among the treatments tried, Woodward's spleen was removed - the body's source of white blood cell production that produces antibodies, a vital part of the immune system. The loss of this organ leaves Woodward at risk for future immunity issues.
She was released from the hospital in the late fall of her junior year and went home with her family ill and paralyzed, to an uncertain future with her mom as her nurse/caregiver.
"I was getting IV medication that my mom was giving me," said Woodward. "A hospital bed was set up in the living room." She added that there were a number of accommodations made to assist in caring for her.
Woodward's condition remained constant for the first eight or nine months she was home and a bone marrow transplant was scheduled a Boston hospital, but before she got there at "miracle" of sorts occurred - her white blood cell count showed signs of recovery for the first time since becoming ill. Due to the difficulties Woodward's paralysis presented it was decided to postpone the bone marrow transplant.
Several months later near the end of the first semester of what would have been her senior year; Mariah Woodward felt well enough one day to visit school with a friend.
"I knew when I was there I wanted to finish school," she said. "I really wanted to come back."
Woodward returned on a very part time basis for the second semester of that year. "I had two classes a day with a big break in between," she said, pointing out the effort it took for her to do that much. "It took a long time for me to fully recover."
At the end of the 2009 school year, she didn't have enough credits to graduate with her class due to her two year absence.
"It was really hard. I was bummed that my friends graduated and wouldn't be here," Woodward said solemnly "I really didn't know anyone in the class (behind) me and didn't have any friends, plus there was a gap in knowledge - my class knew what was going on with me. That's made it more difficult for those who don't know (the history) to understand me."
She has been able to become friends with some of her new classmates this year that she didn't previously know and has had the opportunity to visit her old friends who are away at college.
"I feel like I have grown a lot from that experience," she said. "I hate to say it, but I was sick of being here after two months of being back and listening to all the (petty stuff) ... after almost dying, it just seemed so ridiculous."
When asked how she felt facing her own mortality at such a young age, Woodward replied with misty look in her eyes. "I was OK with it, what bothered me was seeing my family. My mom stayed with me as much as she could. It was hard to see them."
Woodward will attend Johnson State College in the fall and is currently undecided about her major, but is leaning toward English or Art.
Regardless of the hardships she has suffered and nearly died from, Woodward proved in spite of it all that teen spirit is hard to keep down — especially the heart and soul of a teenage girl.
When granted a wish from Make-A-Wish Foundation, Woodward chose to go to the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minn. to shop. (She and her family didn't go until May 2009 when Mariah was feeling better and walking again).
"It was amazing. It was a lot of fun," she said with a smile the Cheshire Cat would envy. "You could get lost in there, it was ridiculous!"
