Another chance at life: Adversity (1/3)

From being completely healthy one day, to being hospitalized the next, Chris Eckhardt, senior, has dealt with immeasurable amounts of adversity. He has spent weeks in a hospital, yet doctors still cannot form a diagnosis. As a result of being sick, Eckhardt currently cannot swim and he awaits the day that he can be in the water again. His stories of adversity, gratefulness and recovery are incredible, and they deserve to be heard. Eckhardt’s stories have been split into three separate articles, each focusing on a different aspect of his journey. 

Part 1: Adversity

“While I was at school, my body shut down. I stood up during class and a blood rush went to my head. At that moment I knew I had to go to the office. As I was walking to the office, I lost my vision and hearing as well as control over my nervous and muscular system. I had no control over my body. I walked propped along the wall, and while I barely made it into the office, I was sweating profusely, and then I collapsed and passed out. Before I made it into the office, I had a hard time breathing, probably because I felt like I was going into shock and scared for my life. Right before I lost consciousness, I remember that I honestly thought I was not going to wake back up. Because it was Toga day, I also remember thinking ‘Great, I’m going to die, or end up in the ER with my toga on- #BeNervous. After I woke up, I was taken to Children’s Hospital for severe abdominal pain, and remained there for a week because I couldn’t walk more than 15 feet without passing out and I couldn’t eat anything. Throughout the first three days, I ate a total of two saltines and drank about 500 mL of water- which I almost threw back up. Right now, I am slowly making it back to getting into the swing of things at school. I am not currently participating in anything. It’s difficult being in and out of school; it’s extremely challenging to make it through a school day. I just want to be a normal kid again. I have been sleeping a lot (not by choice,) and for about three weeks, I couldn’t wake up. I can only take down very bland foods without feeling incredibly sick. Does that stop me from eating the occasional cheeseburger and french fries? Not really. Because I know, regardless, I’m going to feel sick anyways. I feel like a senior citizen with how many medications I am on- I have different drugs that help with continuing stomach pains and vertigo issues. It’s also a grind getting better because some days I feel almost normal, but other days, I am ready to go back to the hospital. It’s frustrating because the doctors cannot figure out what’s going on with me. I’ll get my hopes up when they have an idea of what it could be, but have those hopes crushed when the tests come back negative. Right now, it’s difficult watching other people fill my place in relays, watching my competitors swim fast and watching my teammates train hard without me being there. It’s hard to see my name in heat sheets and watch my results come in as “no show,” because I see a lost opportunity to do the very thing I love to do. I look to the adversity I have and get disheartened.  It is a hard mental battle that I wasn’t really prepared for, but I have to take on,” Eckhardt said.