A teenager facing cancer

Another patient at the children’s hospital, 14-year-old Mikealyn, thoroughly enjoyed her experience at the Positive Image Center. She says the center is a place where she can go to feel comfortable and talk about ordinary teenage things. As a freshman at Verona High School, located 10 miles southwest of Madison, Mikealyn’s main concern was which boy’s invitation she should accept to homecoming, despite undergoing chemotherapy treatments for a brain tumor.

Mikealyn’s eyes widen when she tells Machotka about the homecoming dance. She wore her wig from the center and says she felt like Cinderella. She walks unsteadily but talks confidently, unafraid to speak her mind. Mikealyn, nicknamed Mikey, openly discusses fingernail polish, brain tumors and losing her long brown hair.

Referring to the time of her diagnosis four years ago, Mikealyn says, “I kind of passed out in the trash can.” While this happened on Thanksgiving, it was not until it happened again a few days before Christmas that she went to the doctor.

From the time she was a baby, her mother Lisa O’Brien thought something seemed unusual. Whenever someone picked her up, Mikealyn screamed. She often experienced headaches and motion sickness and faced difficulties with sleep patterns, as well as motor and balance skills.

The doctors told O’Brien, “That’s just Mikealyn.” When she was 9 years old, doctors mistakenly diagnosed her with a vestibular disorder, or inner ear problem.

When she began passing out in 2004, the O’Briens demanded an MRI, which revealed a benign astrocytomic brain tumor. Although they suspected something was wrong, they never dreamed it would be this serious.

Luckily, Mikealyn did not have to undergo any treatment until this year, when doctors noticed the tumor had grown. Despite chemotherapy treatments, Mikealyn maintains a positive attitude and takes everything day by day.

“Mikealyn is the bravest person we know,” O’Brien says. “She is always upbeat, caring, outgoing … [and] does not let anything get in her way.”

Mikealyn already received her black belt in karate and hopes to become an instructor. She loves karate because it gives her power and self-confidence, also something the Positive Image Center provides for her.

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