That's the Spirit
By Debra Nelson-Hogan
Across the campus of Ball State University, students are sporting
orange awareness ribbons, similar to those used to symbolize
the fight against AIDs or breast cancer. The ribbons, used
to symbolize the fight against RSD pain, were the brainchild
of Ashley Mahoney, a sophomore and sister of Alpha Chi Omega
sorority. In November, the Chi Omegas sponsored A Walk to
Remember that increased RSD awareness and raised $4,000 for
RSDSA.
Ashley was diagnosed with RSD in February 2002, a month after
her foot mysteriously swelled and appeared purple, "Like the
color of Barney," Ashley adds. Her medical ordeal was horrific,
as she went from physician to physician only to hear she was
a "hypochondriac college student." Never mind that Ashley
was carrying 20 hours of classes and, as a musical theater
major, was involved in a show. She was so angered by this
attitude that she fired her physician, walked out of the office
with "every piece of documentation regarding her case," and
kept looking for help. A month later, a podiatrist told her
he thought she had RSD.
She garnered her resources and starting researching the syndrome.
"I read everything I could get my hands on," she said. Meanwhile,
the RSD spread up her leg and finally to the whole right side
of her body. Medical treatments continued to make things worse-sympathetic
nerve block was horrible, a spinal cord stimulator gave her
full body tremors. After two and a half weeks in the hospital,
Ashley went home to Marietta, Georgia. "I looked like an 84-year-old
woman with Parkinson's disease," she said. Her first priority
was to go through a detoxification process to get rid of all
the drugs in her system; her second was reclaiming and rearranging
her life.
During the summer she started physical therapy to relearn
to sit and hold herself up. She found that Topamax® stopped
the tremors and helped Ashley get her life back. At the Mayo
Clinic, she was given clonadine, and although things are still
rough for her, Ashley was able to realize her dream of returning
to school for the fall semester.
"It has been interesting, because my memory is rough," she
explains. "I never had trouble memorizing lines and now it
is harder. Sometimes I have trouble speaking and finding the
right words." She also has learned to reset her priorities,
accepting that a C grade is OK.
Once Ashley returned to school she told her sorority sisters
she wanted to do a walk to raise awareness and the sisters
pitched in. Lindsay Gillian, the community chair, pulled it
all together, and more than 100 people, decked in RSD Awareness
T-shirts and orange ribbons walked the mile course. Ashley
says it really is neat how the awareness has grown across
the campus. Once in a while she will see people she's never
met with an orange ribbon pinned to their backpacks. Plus,
she says, "everyone in the theater department knows all about
RSD now. It has spread via e-mail and word of mouth," and
garnered so much support that a variety show, Open the Curtain
to your Dreams and Live, has been set for January 17. "I'm
the first person in the history of Ball State to be allowed
to use Pruice Hall free of charge for a fundraiser," she adds.
"Everyone in the department wants to perform. It's going to
be great!"
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