Community Corner

Teen Makes Junior National Honor Society After Battling a Brain Tumor

After surviving major surgery and a long and challenging recovery, 15 year-old Julianna Chiesa is an academic achiever with a bright future ahead of her. Sponsored by Grape-Nuts.

This post was written by Kathleen F. Miller.

About this sponsorship: In honor of the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s historic ascent of Mount Everest, Patch and Grape-Nuts are teaming up to highlight those who inspire people around them to climb their own mountains.

Woodinville, Washington’s Julianna Chiesa is finishing up a successful year as a 9th grader at Leota Junior High in Woodinville, Washington. Her family is celebrating her recent induction into the Junior National Honor Society.

Julianna has aspired to be a member since she was in 7th grade, when a brain tumor almost took her life. Her mother Laleh Hassibi recalls, “She started having double vision in her left eye.

A trip to the eye doctor, followed by a trip to the emergency room started the ordeal that would have a huge impact on the next year of her life. The vision problems were caused by a large tumor resting on her spinal cord in her cerebellum. After several consultations with the neurosurgical team at Seattle Children’s Hospital, she was prepped for brain surgery. The surgery took eight hours total and the removal of the tumor was a success, but then began a long and sometimes tearfully excruciating road to recovery.

After 9 months of daily therapies including speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy, Julianna’s speech, vision, and coordination began to improve. She went back to school in the winter, in a wheelchair and unable to write. She suffered from ataxia, which she still is working to overcome. Basically, her brain lost control of the left side of her body.

Through daily therapies, she slowly but surely regained some of that coordination, beginning to walk again but unfortunately not regaining the use of her left hand (she was a leftie). We cheered every milestone, from her eyes straightening out again, to her speech clearing so she was better able to express herself, to sitting up then standing, then walking again, to writing the ABCs once more, to getting rid of the wheelchair, to reading once again.

Writing continued to be the greatest challenge since she still hasn’t been able to fully control her left hand yet. So she began practicing with her right hand, which took months to get good at and which she still uses. Now she draws just as beautifully with her right hand as she did previously with her left and, though it still takes her longer to write, her handwriting with her right hand is just as good as her left was.

In May, we celebrated Julianna’s induction into the Jr. National Honor Society. Her dedication to improving herself and doing well in school has been amazing to watch.”

Q. What is the biggest challenge Julianna has taken on?
A. “Working as hard as she has to achieve not only academic success, but to regain all that she lost through the brain surgery ordeal at the same time. She’s worked so steadily and unwaveringly to get back into National Honor Society while relearning how to walk, talk, see, write and all those other basic things most of us take for granted. Her next goal is to be able to easily navigate all the steps and distance to cover at Woodinville High School next year.”

Q. What inspired her to take this challenge?
A. “Falling out of the running for the National Honor Society status in 7th grade because she had to miss so much school and was also unable to accomplish the volunteer requirements, was a disappointment. Julianna set getting back on track to academic success as a goal.”

Q. Did she succeed?
A.  “Yes. Despite all the major roadblocks and detours to getting there, she managed to achieve her goal this Spring, when she was inducted to the National Honor Society as a 9th grader.

Julianna has totally amazed me with how much she has overcome in such a short time. I have no doubt there’s nothing that will get in this girl’s way in life.”


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