From Hospital Bed to Summit World Championships: A Cheerleader’s Story

The following is a beautiful piece written and shared by cheerleader, Shaye O’Donnell, and her mother, Jacquie. In the photo above, Shaye is the flyer, center right. “Mommy, my stomach hurts.” That was pretty much all I was saying for the weeks leading up to my diagnosis with a chronic disease. My name is Shaye O’Donnell and I’m 12. I was on a Junior Level 2 team last year when things started to go wrong. Our Junior L2 team had just made the jump to Junior Level 3 for our last comp of the season. I wanted, so badly, to do the new stunts for level 3 so I just stopped telling my mom how much my gut hurt. But even though I tried to hide it, it was pretty obvious that I was very sick. Between September 2012 and March 2013 I’d gone from 75lbs to 60lbs. I’m really small to begin with so losing 15lbs was pretty noticeable. My mom sure noticed. She had me in to see a bunch of different doctors until, one day, a great guy named Dr. Riley figured he knew what was going on and he ordered two tests called an endoscopy and a colonoscopy (neither of which are very fun). It took five weeks from the doctor visit to the “scope” and in that time I went down to 48lbs. Yikes! I looked awful, like a scarecrow. I couldn’t eat anything, slept for 18 hours a day and my mom even moved my bed into the living room so I could be around my sister. I couldn’t even go to school for six weeks! (I know that that sounds like a dream to most people but by this point all I wanted was to feel good again. If that meant going to school then that was fine with me). When I was finally diagnosed, on May 3rd, 2013, it was Crohn’s Disease. The doctors and nurses at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC were amazing. Dr. Avernashi and Nurse Kathi Evens explained everything to us and when they told me that the medication would make me feel well enough to cheer again I was really excited. The doctors put me on a drug called Prednisone. It’s used to treat cancer and a ton of auto-immune diseases (like Crohn’s). The problem with “pred” is it makes you super puffy. I went from 48lbs to 75lbs in three weeks and, I swear, half of it was in my face! But I felt so much better it hardly mattered what I looked like. When I re-joined my cheer team it was amazing! They were so great and supportive. Our Junior 2 became a Senior 3 and I, somehow, made the team. I was super psyched because my big sister, Layne, was on the same team! By September, our coaches had decided that this team, Absolute Tribute, would be trying for a bid to Summit. Summit!? Are you kidding? We lost it. Not one person on the team complained about extra practices or tumbling. We all just wanted to make it to Summit so we ALL pushed through. The thing with Crohn’s is that different medications work for different people. I had a bad reaction (rash, trouble breathing, etc.) to the maintenance medication (you can’t stay on Pred because it’s kind of toxic) so I had to experiment with a few different ones. During the experimentation phase, I would have lots of symptoms but none of them could keep me off the mat. My sister, Layne, is my biggest supporter. She can take one look at me and see if I’m feeling bad or not. She often puts herself in front of the coaches to take any stress off of me. Mostly though, our coaches are amazing. I could raise a hand and they’d see that I needed some help or was feeling bad. Honestly, without Layne, my team, and my coaches, I don’t think I would have been able to do cheer this year. Layne and I started when she was seven years old and I was four years old, so we’ve been at this a long time and this has been the best year so far. We even have our own Facebook and Instagram, @tribzsibz. Get it? Tribute Siblings? Tribzsibz? 🙂 We’re so excited to go to Summit! Absolute is one of only two Canadian teams going. How cool is that?! But the coolest thing, for me, is that the first day of Summit, May 3rd, is also the one year anniversary of my Crohn’s diagnosis. A year ago I couldn’t walk to the end of our driveway and today I’m flying 15 feet in the air with the best teammates at the World Championships. I want other kids, and adults, to know that being diagnosed with something like Crohn’s is pretty scary but it doesn’t mean that you have to give up on your dreams. In fact, having big dreams like making it to Summit are what make coping with Crohn’s easier. In this last year I’ve had lots of kids contact me through tribzsibz to ask for advice. The hospital even gives kids my Facebook page so they can ask me questions about coping with Crohn’s. If just one person decides to go for their dream because of my story then I think the last year has been worth it. See you at Summit! You can see Shaye and her team in action, performing at PacWest this past March: