Post by schlager7 on Aug 16, 2009 20:33:39 GMT -6
Teen fencer hangs tough in bout with epilepsy
San Antonio Express
Jessica Belasco - Express-News
Web Posted: 08/16/2009 12:47 CDT
Last year, the only thing Delaney Mendoza worried about at a fencing tournament was winning.
Since her epilepsy was diagnosed in July 2008, she's had to worry about having a seizure in the middle of a bout.
"Before you have the seizure you can feel yourself shaking," says Mendoza, 16. "My body parts start going numb. The muscles in my hand loosen. I can't hold on to my blade. That's when you fall."
Although she has continued to fence, it hasn't been easy. She had to withdraw from a Junior Olympics bout at the onset of a seizure. She's had to fight to compete even as her body rebels.
What she hasn't done is quit.
"You have to have the will to keep going. If you want something bad enough, you're not going to let an obstacle get in your way," she says.
"She has a seizure and comes back and keeps fencing," says her mother, Lynn, an academic coordinator at the University of Texas Health Science Center. "I don't think it's so much to prove something to other people as to prove it to herself."
Mendoza became interested in fencing as a little girl after seeing "Queen of Swords," a TV series featuring a heroine who was "like the female version of Zorro," she says. "She would beat up all the guys. It was cool."
When she was 9, her mother signed her up for fencing lessons through Dreams for Youth, a San Antonio Sports program. She fences with a foil, a light, flexible weapon, and an épée, a heavier weapon with a triangular blade.
José Sanchez, Mendoza's coach at Dreams for Youth, remembers being impressed the first time he saw her fence.
"She had an aggression, she had an intensity. I was like, 'Who is that little girl?'" he says. "She has a natural athleticism and a fighter's personality."
That toughness would later come in handy in battling a much more challenging opponent.
Mendoza had her first seizure one day last summer, while ironing a dress to wear to Sanchez's wedding dinner.
The diagnosis shocked her.
"It took me a while, but after I caught on I started to cry. I didn't know what was going on. I thought I'd have to be put in special classes," she says. "The doctor said I could live a normal life. But just walking out of the hospital, I thought people were staring at me. I thought they knew."
Mendoza has catamenial epilepsy, a form of the condition exacerbated by fluctuating hormones during the menstrual cycle. Among women with epilepsy, 30-40 percent will have catamenial seizures.
Sometimes she shakes with convulsions so painful she cries. Usually she blacks out completely. Other times she has absence seizures, staring into space for seconds at a time.
She takes three epilepsy medications, as well as oral contraceptives to regulate her menstrual cycle, and tries to avoid seizure triggers: lack of sleep, dehydration, poor diet.
The physical exertion and stress involved in fencing tournaments — especially knowing college scouts might be watching — can also cause a seizure.
At fencing events, she sometimes calms herself with a meditation technique she learned from the father of one of her teammates, a doctor.
Other times, she just keeps fencing.
In the spring, she was competing in the qualifiers for the U.S. Fencing Association's Summer National Championships when she started shaking.
Her coach and her mother urged her to stop — she already had qualified for the event but was vying for the first-place spot — but she refused.
"She said, 'I'm not going to lose. Not like this,'" Sanchez recalls.
She beat her opponent, shook hands, then dropped to the floor and had a seizure.
But Mendoza never got to fence at the nationals in Grapevine last month.
Before her first bout, she had a seizure in the hotel room, scraping her face so badly she couldn't wear her fencing mask. She was incoherent for hours and unable to compete.
She was devastated, but she was back at practice as soon as her face healed.
A junior at Health Careers High School, Mendoza hopes to become a doctor and treat children with cleft palates.
"I know how it feels to be different and I know what it feels like to be made fun of," she says. "No one should have to go through that."
Armed with medication, a supportive family and her fencing friends, Mendoza is optimistic about her future.
"It's like doing hurdles in track," she says. "If you really want to win this race, you're going to jump over every hurdle to get to the end."
jbelasco@express-news.net
San Antonio Express
Jessica Belasco - Express-News
Web Posted: 08/16/2009 12:47 CDT
Last year, the only thing Delaney Mendoza worried about at a fencing tournament was winning.
Since her epilepsy was diagnosed in July 2008, she's had to worry about having a seizure in the middle of a bout.
"Before you have the seizure you can feel yourself shaking," says Mendoza, 16. "My body parts start going numb. The muscles in my hand loosen. I can't hold on to my blade. That's when you fall."
Although she has continued to fence, it hasn't been easy. She had to withdraw from a Junior Olympics bout at the onset of a seizure. She's had to fight to compete even as her body rebels.
What she hasn't done is quit.
"You have to have the will to keep going. If you want something bad enough, you're not going to let an obstacle get in your way," she says.
"She has a seizure and comes back and keeps fencing," says her mother, Lynn, an academic coordinator at the University of Texas Health Science Center. "I don't think it's so much to prove something to other people as to prove it to herself."
Mendoza became interested in fencing as a little girl after seeing "Queen of Swords," a TV series featuring a heroine who was "like the female version of Zorro," she says. "She would beat up all the guys. It was cool."
When she was 9, her mother signed her up for fencing lessons through Dreams for Youth, a San Antonio Sports program. She fences with a foil, a light, flexible weapon, and an épée, a heavier weapon with a triangular blade.
José Sanchez, Mendoza's coach at Dreams for Youth, remembers being impressed the first time he saw her fence.
"She had an aggression, she had an intensity. I was like, 'Who is that little girl?'" he says. "She has a natural athleticism and a fighter's personality."
That toughness would later come in handy in battling a much more challenging opponent.
Mendoza had her first seizure one day last summer, while ironing a dress to wear to Sanchez's wedding dinner.
The diagnosis shocked her.
"It took me a while, but after I caught on I started to cry. I didn't know what was going on. I thought I'd have to be put in special classes," she says. "The doctor said I could live a normal life. But just walking out of the hospital, I thought people were staring at me. I thought they knew."
Mendoza has catamenial epilepsy, a form of the condition exacerbated by fluctuating hormones during the menstrual cycle. Among women with epilepsy, 30-40 percent will have catamenial seizures.
Sometimes she shakes with convulsions so painful she cries. Usually she blacks out completely. Other times she has absence seizures, staring into space for seconds at a time.
She takes three epilepsy medications, as well as oral contraceptives to regulate her menstrual cycle, and tries to avoid seizure triggers: lack of sleep, dehydration, poor diet.
The physical exertion and stress involved in fencing tournaments — especially knowing college scouts might be watching — can also cause a seizure.
At fencing events, she sometimes calms herself with a meditation technique she learned from the father of one of her teammates, a doctor.
Other times, she just keeps fencing.
In the spring, she was competing in the qualifiers for the U.S. Fencing Association's Summer National Championships when she started shaking.
Her coach and her mother urged her to stop — she already had qualified for the event but was vying for the first-place spot — but she refused.
"She said, 'I'm not going to lose. Not like this,'" Sanchez recalls.
She beat her opponent, shook hands, then dropped to the floor and had a seizure.
But Mendoza never got to fence at the nationals in Grapevine last month.
Before her first bout, she had a seizure in the hotel room, scraping her face so badly she couldn't wear her fencing mask. She was incoherent for hours and unable to compete.
She was devastated, but she was back at practice as soon as her face healed.
A junior at Health Careers High School, Mendoza hopes to become a doctor and treat children with cleft palates.
"I know how it feels to be different and I know what it feels like to be made fun of," she says. "No one should have to go through that."
Armed with medication, a supportive family and her fencing friends, Mendoza is optimistic about her future.
"It's like doing hurdles in track," she says. "If you really want to win this race, you're going to jump over every hurdle to get to the end."
jbelasco@express-news.net