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Teen Diagnoses Her Own Disease in Science Class
Categories: Teens & tweens, Weird But True
Teen Jessica Terry diagnosed her own disease. Photo: sxc.hu
The teen had suffered from bouts of abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting for years, but despite testing, her doctors couldn't find the cause of her illness. In fact, the one who finally solved the mystery -- eight years later -- was Terry herself. In her AP science class, Biomedical Problems (and by the way, when did high school science class get so cool?), Terry put slides of her own intestinal tissue under a microscope and spotted something interesting.
That something was a granuloma, an area of inflamed tissue that also cleared up any questions about the cause of her symptoms. Terry has Crohn's disease. "She was pretty excited about finding the granuloma," Terry's science teacher Mary Margaret Welch tells CNN. "....I said, 'Jeez, it certainly looks like one to me.' I snapped a picture of it on the microscope and e-mailed it to the pathologist. Within 24 hours, he sent back an e-mail saying yes, this is a granuloma."
Now admittedly, granulomas are apparently hard to find. Still, getting showed up by a high school student can't be a comfortable feeling. (A friend of mine still gets a nod of respect from her OB after discovering the source of her infertility issues on her own, after he'd done countless tests.) But Terry's teacher credits local pathologists and the class itself for giving Terry the knowledge and power to investigate her disease.
While Terry's diagnosis isn't a great one -- there's no cure for Crohn's and it'll likely get worse as she gets older -- she's moving forward with a nursing career and a new book -- on Crohn's disease, of course -- for kids. Something tells me that, illness and all, this kid's going to be just fine.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
damoki 6-15-2009 @ 12:39PM
Double edged sword? I am happy she found comfort in knowing, but I know Crohn's disease is tough to deal with and has limited treatments; at least she now knows the devil with which she must dance.
Here is a thought, now, because of this exposure, her future efforts may be a spark for a better treatment for management, of even a cure.
A big benefit will be the book. Any way to wipe away the clouds of ignorance is always welcome, especially for kids.
Her story supports the idea that giving students the right tools and motivation can allow them to achieve beyond expectations.
Bethany, learning is always cool!
DaMoKi
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flash 6-15-2009 @ 2:00PM
Well that is something a lot of us pretty much has to do. I wasn't pleased with my doctor never telling me anything, but was always doling out pills, pills that had side affects that were damaging my liver. I called him as label said if certain affects occurred. He told me to keep taking them,give them a chance to work. I went to another doctor and seeing my yellow eyes and skin tone, right away he asked was I on any meds and when I named it he told me to stop taking them sent me in for test to see how much damage there was. Thank god it was minimal, if I had been stupid and listened to my doctor to keep taking them the story might be very different. The medicine was for high blood pressure. Be your own advocate, read the labels,know your body and pay attention to see if your doctor is listening to you. If they have a problem telling you what is going on with you medically, it's time to find a new doctor.
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Pierce Hibma 6-15-2009 @ 3:03PM
Fascinating story on the ingenuity of a high school student. As a medical student it surprises me greatly that her physician didn’t inspect her intestines after her long lasting complains of pain and discomfort. Maybe that is just a signal of the current state of health care? Thoughts…
http://HSSSblog.com
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CLM 6-15-2009 @ 11:49PM
There is some sort of weird bias going on in medicine. It's been established that IBD/Crohn's generally impacts females more than males, and that onset at puberty (or sooner) is not uncommon. However, abdominal symptoms seem to often be dismissed as "stress" in the young. I experienced multiple symptoms for years, beginning in my late teens/early 20s. I was prescribed everything from Zoloft (!?!) to peppermint tea (seriously). It was not until my mid-30s that I was finally diagnosed with IBD - and that only happened because of a food poisoning incident that came close to landing me in the hospital.
atheistlibertariancriminalasshole 6-15-2009 @ 10:11PM
great that she was able to figure it out but my question is: how did she get pieces of her intestine to her school sci. class?
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