{"id":4621,"date":"2013-02-02T13:22:27","date_gmt":"2013-02-02T18:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=4621"},"modified":"2013-02-02T13:22:27","modified_gmt":"2013-02-02T18:22:27","slug":"attitude-matters-for-maddie-walsh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/4621","title":{"rendered":"Attitude matters for Maddie Walsh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"maddieS\"By Cassie Burnside–<\/strong>A mile and a half into the cross-country race at the Galva-Holstein meet, Madison Walsh fell to the ground, victim to a seizure episode. Later on she would be diagnosed with Conversion Disorder.<\/p>\n

Conversion Disorder is a condition where the person has blindness, paralysis, or other neurological symptoms that cannot be explained by medical evaluation. \u201cIt feels like your whole body is shutting down. Sometimes I\u2019ll lose control of my hands,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cMy speech goes first and I can\u2019t talk. I can\u2019t let people know what\u2019s going on as much as I want to tell them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walsh is a 20-year-old sophomore at Morningside College. She is majoring in Religious Studies and Mass Communications. She is involved with the track and cross-country team, leads a Bible study, and is interning at Sunnybrook Community Church.<\/p>\n

It was only two years ago when the idea of college was almost nonexistent. Maddie\u2019s entire senior year was spent looking for answers from doctors. At first she was misdiagnosed with Lyme\u2019s Disease. They treated her with Valium, which affected her short term and long-term memory.<\/p>\n

Valium made her so sick she cannot remember parts of that year. \u201cI spoke at graduation and I can\u2019t remember some of the things I said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maddie\u2019s episodes got so bad that she had to end high school three and a half weeks early. She was beginning to lose hope that things might not go back to \u201cnormal.\u201d \u201cIt almost scared me to think about getting better because I hadn\u2019t known any better. I had just gotten used to making jokes all the time and being the weird sick girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2011, she was confined to a recliner by a window. The only time she would get up was when she had to use the bathroom, and even then her dad would carry her. \u201cEvery morning I would wake up and my day consisted of looking at the leaves. I was so scared that I wasn\u2019t going to do what I wanted to do. Or if I was even going to go to college.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until August at the Mayo clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, pieces of this puzzle were finally placed together. Maddie was diagnosed with Conversion Disorder. For ten days she was given cognitive behavior therapy to help her learn how to fight these episodes. She was beginning to see the light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day we got back from Mayo that morning at 10:00, I asked my mom if we could go to college today.\u201d She knew if she didn\u2019t seize the opportunity she might never go. \u201cIt was probably too early. I mean, I couldn\u2019t even read the first day of class. But I was able to take 12 credits and simply hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maddie still struggles with these episodes but has learned how to mentally fight them. Her faith has kept her sanity in this whole process. \u201cI try to live like Jesus is coming back at any time. That\u2019s just how I try and live. I definitely appreciate everything and try to have a good attitude because it definitely affects people. I realized the effect that people had on me and how my attitude could affect others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maddie has now decided to take the next step in her life by applying to the New Tribes Bible Institute, either in Wisconsin or Michigan. After graduation there, she will be entering the mission field through the school. She will be traveling to unreached tribes in other countries to spread the gospel and the word of God.<\/p>\n

Maddie\u2019s close friend Garret Ehlers said, \u201cMaddie has an honest heart of gold. She is one of the most sincere people I will ever know. She cares more about those around her than herself. She is willing to sacrifice everything she has to help those around her, and do whatever it takes to complete their joy in Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cassie Burnside–A mile and a half into the cross-country race at the Galva-Holstein meet, Madison Walsh fell to the ground, victim to a seizure episode. Later on she would be diagnosed with Conversion Disorder. Conversion Disorder is a condition where the person has blindness, paralysis, or other neurological symptoms that cannot be explained by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":4622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56109],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-morningside-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4621"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5555,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621\/revisions\/5555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}