ON THE RIGHT PATH / Wickenheiser makes remarkable progress in five years since cancer diagnosis

In 2026, Elyse Wickenheiser will walk across Airport High School’s stage at graduation.

While most students dream of the day they’ll move from one side of the stage to the other, Elly’s goal represents much more than accepting her diploma. It, quite literally, represents her ability to physically walk across the graduates’ stage.

For a survivor of childhood cancer that resulted in years of chemotherapy, radiation, numerous pokes and prods and, ultimately, paralysis, walking is a true culmination of Elly’s triumphant battle against acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Combined with her pride for returning to school after treatment pulled her away, taking steps toward a diploma appears to be a fitting achievement for years spent battling cancer while also fighting to maintain a reputable grade point average.

Although no one can predict the future, especially as it relates to health, Elly, 13, has shown remarkable progress from the day she woke up in a hospital bed without feeling in her feet to walking the St. Patrick Church’s campus in Carleton with a walker.

Her studies have made similarly remarkable progress. Even through years of treatment, Elly has remained committed to her schoolwork, but cancer often left her feeling too sick or tired to consistently keep pace or maintain friendships with peers.

To accompany her progress in walking, returning for in-person instruction as an eighth grader at Wagar Middle School for the 2021-22 school year was another important step toward Elly’s graduation goal.

“I remember when I had a lot of treatments, I was really tired or sick or I didn’t feel up to (school work),” Elly explained. “Being in school, I can actually do the work, and I’m not sick anymore.”

A little more than four years remain until Elly reaches her senior year at Airport High School.

In the meantime, the daughter of Joe and Mariya Wickenheiser of Carleton will continue to live in the moment, soaking up every opportunity to enjoy school, make new friends and astonish the community by meeting new milestones.

MEDICAL JOURNEY

Elly has battled acute lymphoblastic leukemia since her 8th birthday, April 27, 2016. The most common form of childhood cancer, it’s a blood and bone marrow disease that affects white blood cells. It occurs when a bone marrow cell develops errors in its DNA.

Upon diagnosis, Elly received immediate treatment, which included chemotherapy for more than two years, concluding in August 2018.

“Her cancer was more of a marathon than a sprint,” explained Mrs. Wickenheiser, as Elly’s treatment lasted more than two years.

She was cancer-free for about five months, before relapsing in February 2019. An unusual relapse, a painful mass determined to be cancerous was discovered in her spine after weeks of extreme lower-back pain and MRI testing.

Once doctors located the mass, Mrs. Wickenheiser said the family had two choices: emergency radiation or surgery. The Wickenheisers chose radiation, knowing that surgery could lead to paralysis because of the cancer’s location in the lumbar region of the spine.

But the risk still remained, and when Elly woke up from sedated radiation, she couldn’t feel her feet, Mrs. Wckenheiser recalled. She was diagnosed with paraplegia, paralysis of the muscle function in the lower half of the body, including the legs.

This hospital stay lasted more than six months.

“I was there so long that I forgot what the kitchen looked like,” Elly said.

Despite the many challenging memories associated with Elly’s relapse, a silver lining outshone even the toughest of moments.

Although diagnosed with paraplegia, Elly recognized that she still has feeling in her thighs. That means, with enough physical therapy, she can retrain her body to walk again.

Plus, now she’s in remission for the second time.

“After five years with cancer, Elly is used to the pokes and the medications,” Mrs. Wickenheiser said. “It’s just part of her routine.”

RETURNING TO SCHOOL

Now in remission, the 2021-22 academic year marked Elly’s return to in-person learning since fifth grade at St. Patrick School in Carleton. Although in eighth grade, it’s also Elly’s first year learning in-person at Wagar Middle School.

But the transition from St. Pat’s to Wagar was surprisingly seamless, thanks to an unexpected disruption: the COVD-19 pandemic. Although COVID-19 has been undoubtedly tragic for both the country and local communities, Mrs. Wickenheiser said it also aided the family in unique ways.

When en route to various medical appointments, Elly could tune into virtual lessons from the car — and she wasn’t the only student learning in an alternative format. While waiting for the doctor, she could catch up on assignments.

The Wickenheisers were no longer the only family wearing masks to public places.

“COVID made her ‘normal’,” Mrs. Wickenheiser explained. “It really normalized her experiences with the other kids. It let her do school from home, just like everyone else. She went to her appointments, she went to physical therapy… and she could do her work on the way.”

Perhaps even more significant, Wagar’s synchronous virtual learning option allowed Elly to make connections with peers that she was previously lacking. Instead of learning on her own, she made relationships with other students who were also on Google Meet, Zoom or another teleconferencing tool.

When she returned to Wagar in person this year, she didn’t have to feel like the “new kid,” Mrs. Wickenheiser explained, because she’d previously connected with other students virtually.

“She got to see familiar faces,” she added. “She might not have had the same peer interactions, but it really helped her make the transition.”

As an eighth grader, Elly is enrolled in typical core courses, like English language arts, math and science, along with enrichment classes like art and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

Currently, her favorites are social studies with Mr. Jeff Nowosielski, where she enjoys learning about history, and gym with Mr. Ryan Marino, where she makes a great hockey goalie.

She’s also involved in extracurricular activities, like art club with Mrs. Amy Thompson and “iMatter Jr.,” a middle school version of the high school’s mental health awareness group.

Moving forward, Elly will continue to juggle medical appointments, physical therapy, homework and simply being a teenager. She’s considering pathways for future careers in advocacy, possibly even as a spokesperson for childhood cancer.

“We’re talking to her about sharing her story,” Mrs. Wickenheiser said. “She’s learning so much about independence and speaking out.”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Wickenheiser makes remarkable strides in 5 years since cancer diagnosis