BreeAnna Suitor was recently awarded the A.C.E. award by the Duneland Exchange Club. A.C.E. stands for Accepting the Challenge of Excellence, and is given to a senior at Chesterton High School who has faced a challenging and difficult time in their life, has persevered and will graduate from high school. The Duneland Exchange Club gives this award to recognize students for this incredible achievement.
BreeAnna was born on March 20, 1999 in Lexington, Tennessee and moved to Chesterton in 2008. Her parents are Allison Johnson and Kevin Suitor and she has one brother, Benjamin.
In July of 2015, BreeAnna was having a carefree summer before her junior year of high school. While attending the Porter County fair she started feeling sick. She went home, took some ibuprofen and went to bed. 45 minutes later she awoke with a severe migraine headache. Her mom took her to the Franciscan-Alliance ER in Chesterton. Normally, an ER will give a migraine sufferer stronger pain medications and send them home. But, Dr. Orlando Cruz, who treated BreeAnna that day, had a gut reaction this was more than just a migraine and ordered a CT scan.
Dr. Cruz delivered the sobering news that the CT scan revealed a mass on BreeAnna’s brain behind her left ear. He also explained an ambulance was on its way to take BreeAnna to one of three children’s hospitals, and BreeAnna’s parents had 45 minutes to decide which hospital to admit BreeAnna to. They opted for Riley’s Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. After four days of additional testing, a full-report was given to BreeAnna’s family. The family was told the tumor was the size of a golf ball, it started on her hearing nerve, it was completely smashing her facial nerve and it was also on her brain. They also confirmed the tumor was benign.
The tumor had been there a while, but its current size was alarming. The tumor had to be removed and BreeAnna underwent seven different surgeries. The first surgery took 16 hours, and removed 70% of the tumor. This surgery required an ENT surgeon to remove the tumor on her ear and remove the majority of BreeAnna’s inner ear. A neurosurgeon removed the tumor on her brain. The other surgeries included: adding a shunt and regulator to control the fluid flow from the brain to the stomach; removing her ear drum, which meant her entire inner ear was gone and she was now completely deaf in the left ear; and placing a hearing aid near her left ear.
BreeAnna has experienced both short-term and long-term effects due to the tumor and its removal. In the short-term, she missed an entire semester of school. She had to make up 15 credits in one semester. Also, the surgeries left her with Bells Palsy on the left side of her face. Bells Palsy is a temporary paralysis of one side of the facial musicals and causes half of the face to droop. BreeAnna’s Bells Palsy has significantly improved, but she’s not fully recovered. The long-term effects includes: losing all hearing in her left ear; never riding a roller coaster; never flying in an airplane; never swimming under water; and never taking a cruise on a ship.
How does a mom make it through such a challenging time? When Dr. Orlando told Allison, BreeAnna’s mom, about the mass on BreeAnna’s brain, she was in shock and in disbelief. She was very concerned about the tumor was extremely thankful the tumor was benign. She made it through this difficult time because as a parent you have to be strong for your child. Plus, she had the support of her family.
When BreeAnna initially heard the news she started to shut down. But once she fully understood the situation, she focused on getting better. She too was extremely thankful the tumor was benign. Furthermore, she was in a children’s hospital and saw extremely sick kids, which reminded her how fortunate she really was. She also helped other kids while she was in the hospital. Nearby BreeAnna’s room was a one-year old boy who had severe burns on his legs. His family was not allowed to see him, which meant he had no visitors. BreeAnna would spend time with him and would provide comfort to him. Focusing on others meant she didn’t focus on herself.
Even though BreeAnna stayed strong during this time, she was changed by the experience. Prior to discovering the tumor, BreeAnna was an outgoing person, and after the surgeries she became withdrawn, didn’t trust others and faced depression.
What surprised and saddened her was losing her boyfriend and friends during this time. Only one friend stuck by her side, plus, she has seen the worse in some of her peers. When she returned to school she was bald, she had scars on the back and side of her head, the left side of her face was drooped due to the Bells Palsy and she had gained weight due the medications. Upon seeing her in this condition, one male student, who she knew for eight years, called her a “down syndrome dyke”. A female student, who she had been friends with since fifth grade, continues to this day to make fun of her. Thankfully, BreeAnna has learned to ignore them. Also, during this difficult time she received wonderful help from CHS counselor Julie Roytan.
BreeAnna was asked what she wanted people to learn from her story and she said…”I hope people will get to know someone before they make a judgement about them.” She wishes more people were like the special needs kids she works with, because they accept you for who you are and not what you look like.
I asked her mom to describe BreeAnna and she said she is very outgoing, she loves to talk, she’s strong willed, determined and self reliant. She also said she knows God chose BreeAnna to go through this because He knew she was strong enough to endure this, especially when others couldn’t.
Despite everything BreeAnna has been through, she has done remarkably well in school. Prior to getting sick BreeAnna’s grades were Cs and Ds, because she didn’t take school seriously and socializing was her priority. Today, she gets As and Bs and her focus is on learning.
BreeAnna has a bright future ahead. She has been accepted to five colleges, and she hopes to be a special needs teacher or a counselor.
Both BreeAnna and her mom hope all of us understand we are not promised tomorrow, so we need to make the most of today!