Meet Heather: A Young Adult Who Developed Hydrocephalus

Appeared in the foundation's newsletter, LIFE~LINE, Summer 2000

Heather lives in the Midwest and was your typical high school student - very active in dance, cheerleading, golf, skiing and many other activities and sports. This was before and after her hydrocephalus was diagnosed.

Heather's diagnosis did not come about easily. She had pretty much been a straight A student - until high school, she started losing concentration and her grades dropped. Heather also started suffering from headaches, but these were somewhat discarded by Heather's parents - attributing them to sleepovers - knowing that Heather probably got little sleep, (as this seem to be when the headaches came about) However, on a later occasion, after spilling some pool chemicals on herself, she had a horrible headache and after seeing her Primary Care Physician, he sent her on to a neurologist. After listening to Heather's complaints, he then decided to try her on various types of medication, including a high blood pressure medication... but nothing would control the headaches. The neurologist decided to have a CT scan done. He hadn't ordered one previously as the circumstances didn't seem to require it. However, the hydrocephalus showed up and hence, the surgery was done soon after - right before Heather's 17th birthday!

We posed the question to Heather: how do you feel about hydrocephalus? Heather stated "I think having hydrocephalus makes me unique!!! Everyone tells me how special it makes me and I never use to know what it meant, but now I realize it I also think it has made me more grown up in some respects. Little things do not bother me as much now because in the big picture - they mean nothing!!"

Although Heather was new to the world of hydrocephalus she has already experienced ignorance, mispronunciation of the condition and discrimination. But she's already learning on how to deal with these issues.

Heather attends college and is planning on becoming a medical professional - quite possibly in working in physical or occupational therapy. She has already worked in the radiology of her local hospital and, did some internship at the Mayo Clinic. Heather has not only done very well in her class grades, but has also been physically active in sports and cheerleading.

Since this story first appeared, Heather has since had a Third Ventriculostomy and is doing very well.