Weeks before her brain surgery, senior Kelsey Eddins had a reoccurring dream of her surgery going wrong. Kelsey sat in the waiting room with her family, sitting patiently to be called back for surgery. When called, she was pulled away from her family with no goodbyes. She witnessed her own surgery and watched as a complication arose. With that, the doctors were forced to tell her parents that she didn’t make it through.
Eddins had brain surgery last summer to remove a benign tumor that was near her optic nerve and pituitary gland. If this tumor was left untreated, it would have affected her vision as it pressed against the optic nerve. If it continued to press against the pituitary gland, it would have potentially disrupted the hormone balance in her body.
The Eddins sisters both had seizures beginning their freshman year. Even after many doctor visits, doctors are still unable to find a cause. However, doctors have discovered that Kelsey’s tumor was not related to her seizures.
The expensive brain surgery left the Eddins family with a surplus of medical bills that would take many years to pay off. The Pittsboro community held a variety of fundraisers in order to help. According to Kelsey’s twin sister Jessie, one fundraiser at local restaurant Virlie’s raised approximately $27,000 within a two day period.
“It’s crazy,” Kelsey said. “I would have never have thought that it would happen at all. People that don’t even know me will give money to my grandpa’s sister saying, ‘Oh, this is for so and so.’ It is crazy. I don’t know how to describe it. The Pittsboro atmosphere is why people are being generous. If I lived in a bigger more popular city it would not have happened.”
Despite the smaller size of the Pittsboro community, Jessie is grateful for the large groups of community members that showed their support by buying shirts or waiting at the hospital.
“I’m just glad we had the support we had,” Jessie said. “During her surgery we had 30 people at a time in the waiting room with us, staying and all wearing the shirts. So many people came to visit, like our cousins and our cousins’ friends. It was really great.”
This school year, Northwood’s Relay for Life is donating all the money they raise toward Kelsey’s surgery. Senior Darcy McGregor is the vice president of Relay for Life and has known Kelsey since sophomore year.
“I think it is very sad that at such a young age she had to go through this and many people that I know have had these hardships later on in life,” McGregor said. “It is very impressive how she has handled herself and how she has always stayed optimistic. She is overall a very welcoming and open person. I think it is inspiring in a way because she participates in Relay for Life as well and she is just here having a great time and doing what she can with what she has.”
After having surgery, Kelsey reaches out to other teenagers going through the same surgery she is now recovering from.
“I have been through more than the average teenager, and I can see now how other people struggle,” Kelsey said. “It’s hard. There’s one kid who had a tumor similar to mine and he was not wanting to have surgery at all…. I talked to him and he was able to see me and how [well] I was doing and that helped. It is nice to help other people going through similar stuff because you’ve already been through it so you know what it’s like, and you can help them be okay with having to do it. And to see him after his surgery made me feel good, and we still communicate. He’s back at school and it’s nice to see that and be a part of it.”
To aid the Eddins family, Northwood students have purchased bracelets, helping to raise money.
“I think [Northwood’s support] is really cool because a lot of people know us, but we’re not really close friends with anyone,” Jessie said. “We don’t have a group. It’s really cool because I put on Instagram and Twitter that I was selling bracelets last year during exams and so many people came up to me and were like, ‘I want a bracelet,’ and I was like, ‘You don’t even talk to us, but that’s cool.’”
McGregor is surprised by the generosity and selflessness of the Pittsboro community.
“I think it is really sweet,” McGregor said. “I think the fact that people will buy small things whether it is buying a wrist band for a dollar or participating in fundraisers that they hold. I think it is a really inspiring thing as we come together as a community to help support this one person going through a difficult time.”
– By Sarah Helen Shepherd & Courtney Wolfe
