LA CRESCENT, Minn. — Elizabeth Rosendahl gets stressed out concerning her grades. In that way, she’s adore a great deal of higher school students that juggle a full extracurricular timetable along with the demands of her classes.
But that appears to be every one of the La Crescent higher School senior worries concerning — at least outwardly — although there’s so considerably more.
For two years, Elizabeth has actually pushed herself to preserve up in school and participate in every club or activity that passions her despite her battle along with a rare form of cancer that, at least for now, is untreatable. Her positive attitude and perseverance through it every one of is why she’s the La Crosse Tribune added Effort Award winner for La Crescent.
Elizabeth was diagnosed along with an aggressive form of thyroid cancer throughout her sophomore year in 2013. That August, her entire family got sick, Yet Elizabeth couldn’t shake the illness, so she went to see a doctor, that found an unusually large lymph node in her neck.
She was sent to a specialist, that biopsied the mass and found it be cancer.
But her particular form of cancer was so rare, her mom, Paula, said, that it couldn’t be treated in La Crosse, so Elizabeth was sent to Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Yet even as cutting edge as Mayo is, the family has actually been told Elizabeth’s cancer isn’t one that can easily be cured, only managed.
“Traditional chemo and radiation are not efficient on it, so they regulate it by performing surgeries to remove it,” Paula said.
Since her diagnosis, Elizabeth has actually undergone two such surgeries, the initial right after Christmas in 2013. At that time, surgeons removed 70 lymph nodes, 59 of which were cancerous. Then, in June, Elizabeth had yet another procedure to reduce the size of the tumor. It’s still there, she said, and it constantly will certainly be.
Now doctors are monitoring her to figure out whether yet yet another surgery is necessary. Elizabeth gets checked every three months, and right now, she said it’s “looking good.”
She admits, though, that it’s hard to understand exactly what to expect. Removal of a tumor doesn’t mean the cancer is gone, and whether it will certainly come back, and at exactly what rate, is difficult to determine. Doctors likewise never ever discuss time along with her, as even that can’t accurately be predicted.
Elizabeth, in the meantime, lives her life. She’s embraced every one of the opportunities to be involved that higher school provides. Examples contain forensics, theater, debate club, Knowledge Bowl and a number of church activities.
“I’m sort of a busy person,” she said. “I merely constantly adore to be doing something; that’s my personality.”
And to preserve up her grades, Elizabeth has actually had to remain busy, frequently functioning ahead in class in order to plan for the three- to four-week recovery periods she calls for after surgeries.
La Crescent Assistant Principal Jeff Copp, that taught Elizabeth in his band class for four years and has actually worked along with her in theater productions and on lots of committees, said due to her situation, she has actually had to go above and beyond to make certain she isn’t missing out on her classes.
He noted one particular instance as quickly as the band was functioning on a rigorous project involving a grant. Elizabeth knew she’d be recovering throughout that time, so she was assigned a divide project she could job on prior to her procedure.
“She ended up placing with each other a blog website,” Copp said. “She connected the band pieces and did an autobiographical study, and connected it through history.”
He was so impressed along with her job that he used it as a bar for the rest of the students to reach for.
“Her added effort ended up leveraging the whole class to boost the bar for what’s possible,” he said. “I would certainly argue, the whole class was enriched and learned from her. … She knocked it from the park.”
For Elizabeth, attempting hard and staying busy does preserve her mind away from thoughts of her illness, Yet that activity has actually a better purpose.
“I wish to offer spine and make my footprint on the world,” she said. “I wish to do something for the better good since it makes me sad to see every one of these individuals that demand something or help, and I wish to recommendations them.
“It earned me understand exactly how short life can easily be for me, so I wanted to do it as considerably as I could in case something happens.”
Elizabeth has actually constantly bounced spine remarkably well after her surgeries, Paula said. While those procedures are constantly in the spine of her mind, “She merely wishes to get hold of on along with her life,” she said.
And get hold of on along with life she will. Elizabeth loves art and wishes to pursue it in some form after she graduates, possibly at Edgewood College in Madison or at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
“It’s a truly big tension reliever, and it helps me get hold of my emotions out,” Elizabeth said of her usage of art. “If I’m having a inadequate day and merely feel adore screaming or something, I can easily put it out on canvas rather than hurting others individuals and making others individuals angry or upset.”
Elizabeth doesn’t seek focus — or want individuals to feel sorry for her due to her condition.
She isn’t specifically sure where her optimism comes from. Yet she knows that along with whatever time she’s given, she’s going to usage every second of it.
“I’m going to make the very best of my life as it is right now and be happy and energetic,” she said, “and not worry concerning the small stuff, since that’s not as crucial as others things.”
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