by Celia O’Flaherty

October 17, the day of Teresian, sophomore Megan Schilling woke up feeling better than usual. After missing school in ‘spurts’ due to strep throat, she visited the doctor and received a clear to attend Teresian and host an after party. That night, Schilling danced with her date, entertained friends, finished a late night clean-up and fell asleep, exhausted.

‘A big part of who I am is being social,’ Schilling said. ‘I would hate to look back at sophomore year and see that I did nothing.’

Only a few days later, Schilling was diagnosed with sever mononucleosis, not fully returning to school until the second semester. According to webmd.com, mononucleosis, or mono, is a viral illness leaving the infected weak for months and is often misdiagnosed as strep throat.

‘I bet I’ve slept more than I’ve been awake the whole year,’ Schilling said. ‘It wasn’t weird for me to sleep all day.’

Schilling missed three consecutive school weeks and struggled with the pressure of staying on track academically. However, when her mother, Susan Schilling, informed principal for academic affairs Barbara McCormick of the seriousness of Megan’s condition, McCormick met with Megan’s teachers to handle the situation. McCormick said they made it a priority to meet Megan’s academic needs.

‘I could see [Megan’s] concern about getting everything done,’ McCormick said. ‘[But] I had full confidence in the teachers to know what skills [she] needed to be prepared for her courses.’

During her absences, Megan missed all of her semester exams. According to Susan, STA was tremendously helpful in Megan’s recuperation.

‘The school really understood [Megan] needed time to get well.’ Susan said. ‘They put her recovery [first].’

Megan said her teachers reached beyond expectations.

‘My teachers were really patient with me,’ Megan said. ‘They never pressured me and respected that I needed time.’

Literature teacher Stephen Himes introduced Skype, a video chat software application, during his class so Megan could listen to discussion.

‘It is more difficult in [literature] classes where the basis of what I teach revolves around class discussion, so I was worried she wouldn’t understand everything without being involved in [class],’ Himes said. ‘By letting Megan hear the discussion [through Skype], she [had] a much better idea of what she was missing.’

Along with her teachers’ assistance, Megan said she would not have recovered without her classmates’ support.

‘Without my friends, I would have become depressed,’ Megan said. ‘My doctors were even surprised about my school experience. Most teens exposed to mono suffer from depression because of a lack of connection with their school. It was awesome to see everyone cared.’

After recovering over Christmas break, Megan planned to fully return to school second semester. However, because she was susceptible to common sicknesses, she found catching up difficult.

‘I pick [illnesses] up easily, so I have already missed a fair amount of school during the second semester,’ Megan said. ‘The hard part about this semester is my schedule. I only have two frees [weekly] and activity periods’”all of which [I spend] making up tests.’

According to Megan, weekends are time for recovery, not friends, due to her tight schedule.

‘I am usually sick by the end of the week because I am mentally and physically exhausted,’ Megan said. ‘Balancing sleep and homework is more important than my social life.’

Despite her ongoing illness, Megan does not want it to define her sophomore year.

‘There’s always the option to give up, but I don’t want to take it,’ Megan said. ‘To me, turning in work is like a big thank you to my teachers for their flexibility.’