REAL TEST: Student resolute in cancer battle

KERNERSVILLE -- Avery Hester's short, pixie haircut has attracted attention and compliments.

What many students at East Forsyth High School don't realize, however, is that the 14-year-old freshman's hair is growing back after undergoing intensive rounds of chemotherapy last year. She still takes daily oral doses of chemotherapy and returns to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center every two weeks for check-ups and spinal taps.

A year ago, Hester could not begin the eighth grade at Kernersville Middle School because of severe joint pain.

Hester said it began with back pain in April 2008, which she and her mother, Angela Shue, believed was the result of Hester straining her back while showing her 160-pound Great Danes.

The dogs far outweigh the diminutive Hester, who has been showing dogs at American Kennel Club shows since she was 8. As the pain intensified in her back, elbow and other joints, Hester began a series of doctor visits that baffled her pediatrician.

In late August, tests proved that Hester's swollen knee was not rheumatoid arthritis but leukemia.

"I was really scared,'' Hester said, adding that she was comforted because doctors at Brenner Children's Hospital at Wake Forest Baptist told her they "were going to take care of it."

Her mother recalled that they were told to "bear with it for six months."

"We had no idea what that really meant," Shue said.

Her daughter's treatment included a bone-marrow transplant, which compromised her immune system. With the slightest exposure to germs a threat to her health, Hester became a homebound student.

Hester expected to return to eighth grade, but a severe headache after her third round of treatment turned out to be two blood clots in her brain.

"They told me it was a ‘rare but expected' side effect. I found that kind of ironic," said Hester, whose sense of humor over often-confusing cancer jargon helped her cope. She bought her mother a T-shirt that said "Remission is not a cure" from the Web site www.stupidcancer.com.

At first, many people visited; visits tapered off as Hester began to feel worse and worse. The isolation was crushing, Hester said, but she did not feel like socializing either. Twice, she said, she felt well enough to visit Kernersville Middle School and eat lunch with her classmates. By the end of the year, she was able to attend the eighth-grade dance.

Marisa Papalia, Avery's best friend, was shocked when she heard the news.

"At first I didn't real­ly understand what it meant. I thought, ‘Cancer?' and immediately thought the worst. She had to explain what was going to happen to her," Papalia said. "Being at school without her was hard. It's hard not having your best friend around, but we hung out when she felt well."

Hester said that losing her long hair was one of the worst parts of having cancer. By the end of May, her hair started returning along with her strength. By summer, she was able to enroll in a driver's ed class. In May, Hester had dropped to 80 pounds, but she is now back to 106 pounds.

And in late August, she started East Forsyth High School like any other freshman.

She was cautioned about taking too heavy of an academic load, and was offered an abbreviated schedule with the possibility of graduating in five years.

"No, I'm going to college on time,'' she said she told them. She enrolled in all seminar and honors classes, said Shue, who is trying to balance her child's ambition with what is best for her health.

The first week of high school, Hester said, was overwhelming.

Her ankle joints still ached, and crossing campus, getting to her locker and making it to class in time seemed daunting. On the third day, she met with her doctors and psychologist for a check-up. Hester insisted that she could succeed after a year of fighting a devastating illness and sleeping in to recuperate.

As the first quarter ends, she said, she has found that she needs more time to study than she has in the past. She said she uses her weekends to sleep and to work ahead in an attempt to make her weeknights a bit easier.

Hester also has to be more diligent than others about avoiding germs. A slight cold could be enough to warrant a hospital stay. Her Latin teacher has a special desk that gets cleaned with sanitizer before Hester arrives. Teachers know to move other students with sniffles away from Avery, who carries hand sanitizer and uses it throughout the day.

The H1N1, or swine flu, outbreak has been of great concern to Shue.

"I've been on pins and needles every day. I watch her very closely, and she's precautious,'' Shue said. "Her friends are mindful, too, about germs. Avery's done a good job educating them about what being sick can do to her."

Despite the exhaustion and fear, Hester is embracing high school with exuberance, an appreciation for school that she took for granted before she became sick. She attends school events and Friday night football games. She laughs with her friends and works hard to stay caught up in her classes. She lists clubs that appeal to her.

Papalia noted that "most kids our age don't like school. After being out for a year, Avery was ready to come back."

Her mother agreed.

"Avery has a different perspective toward school,'' Shue said. "While once it may have been a burden, now she is more enthusiastic. She definitely has an appreciation for being able to come to school."

Cyoung9@triad.rr.com