How it all began

In June 2005 I moved on from 8th grade to high school. I was very excited, very driven, and very happy to start a new stage in my life. I decided to join my high school's summer running camp, which would help me in my decision of whether to join the school's cross-country team in the fall. I went to the camp. I accomplished my personal goals I had made. Ran my first 5K race only after a week's worth of running long distance. Still managed to obtain a 3rd place medal in my age group. I was on top of the world. Everything seemed to be going much better than according to plan. I was successful in the fall with my classes and I ran a few varsity races on the cross-country team as a freshman, which is pretty unheard of. All of this changed on October 1, 2005.

During a cross-country race, I ran perfectly. I ran well beyond my personal best and managed to get 17th place overall in a varsity race. However, the moment I ran across the finish line, I could not feel my feet. This was strange because I have never experienced that feeling after running. My shoes weren't too tight. The circulation in my body was normal. I just couldn't feel my feet. Then after a few minutes, I couldn't feel my legs and I got very dizzy. The paramedics at the race were worried and thought I was having a heart attack so they rushed me to the emergency room via the ambulance. It was quite fun riding in an ambulance for the first time. I was terrified though. I had no clue as to what was wrong with me. But what worried me most was that the paramedics did not know either.

At the hospital the doctors performed numerous tests on me. Urine tests. Blood tests. Heart rate monitors. Oxygen monitors. I felt fine. I just couldn't feel my legs and feet and felt dizzy. That was it. Since they could not find anything physically wrong with me, they sent me home and said I might be coming down with the flu. This seemed very odd to me. But sure enough, the week after this happening, I got flu-like symptoms. So, I thought I was going to be perfectly fine again. Oh boy was I wrong...