{"id":369,"date":"2015-11-19T16:29:43","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T21:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.wpengine.com\/?p=369"},"modified":"2015-12-03T15:37:16","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T20:37:16","slug":"ms-wont-stop-mina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=369","title":{"rendered":"MS won’t stop Mina"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Hepp<\/strong>
\nThe Wildcat Roar
\nNovi HS
\n1st Place
\nDivision 1, News Writing
\nPersonality Profile<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

4:17 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 7 is a moment senior Mina Cunmulaj will remember for the rest of her life – it\u2019s the moment she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.<\/p>\n

After experiencing numbness and weird sensations in the left side of her body the day before, Cunmulaj was in the emergency room awaiting the results of a two and a half hour MRI of her brain, neck and spine.<\/p>\n

Cunmulaj was then told by a doctor that the MRI showed lesions on her brain that were suggestive of MS.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat moment haunts me, and it will haunt me forever,\u201d Cunmulaj said.<\/p>\n

After hearing the news, Mina said she initially went into shock, as did her parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called my dad right away \u2026 and I heard him collapse over the phone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Multiple sclerosis is a degenerative autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system, specifically, the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad just sat next to my bed and sobbed,\u201d Cunmulaj said. \u201cI had never seen my dad cry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mina was kept in the hospital for three more days and put on medical steroids. She also underwent a Lumbar puncture, a spinal tap in which half of the results came back positive for MS. The other half of the results would not be available until a week later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a part of me that was hoping it wasn\u2019t real, that it was a mishap,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A week later, however, the rest of the results were confirmed positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that, I kind of had to rebuild my life. From zero,\u201d Cunmulaj said. \u201cI just really thought, \u2018I can sit and dwell on this for the rest of my life and be negative about it, or I can turn this into a positive and do something with it and impact people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Friend and lacrosse teammate senior Alanna Clark said Cunmulaj was very optimistic throughout the whole thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as Mina got out of the hospital, she was very insistent on getting better and making a difference with MS and raising awareness about it,\u201d Clark said.
\nCunmulaj, an avid lacrosse player, had nearly committed to play college lacrosse when she was diagnosed.<\/p>\n

After meeting with a second neurologist, it was determined that Mina would not be able to play in college. The neurologist said the numbness and chronic fatigue associated with MS would be too much combined with the stress and physical demands that come with being a college athlete.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough,\u201d Cunmulaj said. \u201cI cried and I cried … because my dad was a college athlete, and I had to accept that I wouldn\u2019t be able to follow through with my dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon after finding out she could not be a college athlete, Cunmulaj realized she wanted to do something for other athletes with MS. She contacted several members of the National MS Society and soon became a national MS ambassador, she said.<\/p>\n

Cunmulaj is scheduled to speak at several MS charity events, such as Walk for MS and Muckfest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was humbled because I\u2019ve always wanted to help other people,\u201d Cunmulaj said. \u201cIn my time of despair, [there was] no better way to pick myself up than to help other people. There was nothing else I could think of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark said she thinks it\u2019s awesome Cunmulaj is getting involved with the MS society.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a great opportunity,\u201d Clark said. \u201cShe\u2019s going to speak with them and work with them and she\u2019s going to be amazing at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunmulaj still plans to play high school lacrosse and is a co-captain for this year\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way I\u2019m giving that up this year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mina loses feeling in her legs after she runs for long periods of time because heat brings back the disease\u2019s symptoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m done running, I literally cannot feel from my waist down and it feels like I\u2019m on air,\u201d Cunmulaj said. \u201cIt\u2019s weird, and terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

After she\u2019s done running, ice baths help cool her down and restore the feeling in her legs. The numbness Cunmulaj experiences will not hurt her lesions in the long run, though, and she is keeping her competitive mindset for\u00a0the upcoming lacrosse season.<\/p>\n

\u201cChase [the trainer] and I have set up this situation, so if I\u2019m getting hot and I fall during a game, they\u2019ll pull me over to the sideline and stick my legs in ice buckets,\u201d Cunmulaj said. \u201cThen I\u2019ll get back in, full gear, ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunmulaj is currently working with athletic director Brian Gordon to pick a lacrosse game in the spring to raise awareness and fundraise for MS.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to buy jerseys, we\u2019re going to put names on the back of those jerseys … and do this for the cause,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n

Gordon said Cunmulaj is like the role model for athletics.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is an amazing young woman,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cThis is my 25th year in high school athletics \u2026 and I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever met somebody who \u2026 has the passion for something that she really wants to do, and will not let anything stand in her way, as much as this young lady does. It\u2019s just unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mina has kept up with horseback riding, a passion she has had all her life. She has also developed a newfound exercise passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoga really does help because it gets you in touch with yourself and that\u2019s a huge thing with this disease,\u201d Cunmulaj said. \u201cSlowing down life and taking a second to just think about yourself and how your body\u2019s feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mina has also changed her entire diet and elected to stay off medication until the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to give a lot of credit to my mom [for] everything,\u201d Cunmulaj said, \u201cfor consistently staying on top of my health, and supporting my new lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark said Cunmulaj has inspired her with how she\u2019s trying to make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has turned something so negative around and made it so positive,\u201d Clark said. \u201cShe\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunmulaj said her entire experience has changed her as a person for the better.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s completely opened my eyes to life and how short it can be,\u201d Cunmulaj said. \u201cI never thought I\u2019d be in this position. And now I want to do everything I can to help someone else get back up on their feet again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Hepp The Wildcat Roar Novi HS 1st Place Division 1, News Writing Personality Profile<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,63],"tags":[48,20],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-personalityprofile-nw","tag-48","tag-division1","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kelsey Parkinson","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=3"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-5X","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}