test of strength

Some of life’s most important lessons are learned outside the classroom

Story by Christina Hughes Babb

Photos by Benjamin Hager and Can Turkyilmaz

WATCH videos at lakehighlands. advocatemag.com/ video

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Some acquire their diploma easily. Others earn theirs against all odds. These graduating seniors didn’t let life’s blows keep them down. This month, they will cross the commencement stage knowing their tribulations made them stronger.

It lights up the room and warms everyone in it. But she tells us about a scared, beaten, angry and sad middle schooler who couldn’t make friends — that was her up until age 13, when her father finally left the family.

The oldest of five children, she says she received the brunt of the abuse. She was forced to quit all extra-curricular activities including sports, which she loved.

“I wanted to be something. I knew I had a lot going for me, but he told me I would wind up pregnant before I finished high school, or that I would be in jail.”

She set out to prove him wrong.

When she was in seventh grade, she says, her father legally relinquished his parental rights. She attended Liberty Junior High in RISD and began joining clubs, including Advancement Via Individual Determination (see What is AVID? p. 35), where she made friends. In eighth grade, she returned to sports volleyball, basketball, track. She moved to Berkner High School and surrounded herself with a tight-knit group that included other AVID students and teachers. It was like a “nest”, she says, where she felt safe.

But then her father showed up. He tracked her down at school, and she says things went downhill fast. She had to transfer to Lake Highlands High School to break free.

Again, though, she found herself in a precarious spot.

“I didn’t feel as welcome at first, even in AVID. I went into a shell. I didn’t have friends because of an injury I wasn’t playing sports, and I was working two jobs, mostly to keep me occupied because I still wanted to be productive.”

But then a school assignment required her to share her autobiography. She was honest and read her story aloud to her AVID class. After opening up, she says, life improved.

“I started to smile a lot; my grades went up. I started saying ‘good morning’ to people in the hallway,” she says.

A few weeks ago, the University of Houston sent her an acceptance letter. In her senior year, she has already started taking night classes at Richland Community College. She wants to follow in her mom’s footsteps and become a nurse.

Getting into college and graduating from high school feels good, she says, especially considering the setbacks.

“I haven’t had any kids,” she says, referring to her father’s mean-spirited prediction. “And it feels good being one step closer to proving him wrong.”

“I’d never want to consider a life without activity,” says avid runner and biker Gary Derheim. But a hip fracture nearly brought his sport to a screeching halt. At Baylor, Gary was treated with an advanced, new procedure called hip resurfacing. “Before the procedure,” he says, “they spent a lot of time talking to me about options, what was important to me. You need a good hip to ride like I do. The procedure was incredible. I was walking within days. Ultimately, I was able to do a 109-mile bike race, and I didn’t think about my hip once.”

For a physician referral or for more information about orthopaedic services at Baylor Dallas, call 1.800.4BAYLOR or visit us online at BaylorHealth.com/DallasOrtho

3500 Gaston Avenue., Dallas, Texas 75246

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