Trip came at right moment for family

Make-A-Wish helped during tough time

By Ed Mahon

Rudy Stackhouse learned that his teenager daughter could qualify for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But he hesitated to apply. He thought the nonprofit only granted wishes to terminally ill children.

“We had this preconceived notion that most of the kids die,” said Stackhouse. “And that is not true.”

In its 25-year history, the Make- A-Wish Foundation of Greater Pennsylvania and Southern West Virginia has granted more than 10,000 wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions. Make-A-Wish spokeswoman Dana Antkowiak says about 80 percent of wish recipients are thriving and planning for the future.

Lesha Allen, Stackhouse’s daughter, is one of them. At 15, she was diagnosed with a benign tumor and underwent about a dozen surgeries.

It’s been about 10 years since her family traveled to Hawaii through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She views the holiday as more than just a chance to see where Jurassic Park was filmed. She considers it a turning point in the way she viewed her sickness and recovery.

“It was just a light in my life at the time that it was really dark. Nothing was happening ” said Allen. “It seemed like I was always having surgery. Sometimes I didn’t think I was going to make it or that my future would be as happy as it is today.”

Now 27, Allen lives with her husband Brian in College Township. They’ll celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary this summer. Brian’s family was in town this weekend for the baptism of the couple’s 7- month-old son, Michael.

Back in high school, Allen doubted she’d ever celebrate either of those milestones.

Coffee, forgotten joviality

Initially, Allen attributed the pain in her shoulder to the strain of holding her flute parallel. She was a performer in the State College Area High School marching band at the time. Doctors thought tendinitis from swimming might be the cause.

X-rays and MRIs revealed the tumor — not cancerous, but still dangerous. Once, she had to have a teaspoon-size piece of tumor removed from a lung.

“It was very aggressive” Allen said. “It just kept coming back and back.”

She traveled to Hawaii her junior year of high school, joined by her parents, Phyllis and Rudy, and sister Lori. The trip had several highlights. Pearl Harbor struck Allen as eerie. The fire dancers looked cool. And Kona coffee was addictive — Allen’s parents still order some when they want a treat.

But what stands out for Phyllis Stackhouse is how the mood changed in the family. She figures they laughed more in that one week than they had in the years since the diagnosis.

“It was just a lightness that we never had,” said Phyllis Stackhouse

“A joviality that we had forgotten,” added Rudy Stackhouse

Flute to piccolo

After the Hawaii trip, Allen still had her worst surgery ahead of her — a 15-hour operation known as an internal amputation.

Doctors removed bones and muscle from her right shoulder, and left only blood vessels and nerves. Then they put in a metal rod, pieces of bone from her leg and pieces of muscle from her stomach. She essentially has no use of her right shoulder.

But she kept playing music, switching from the flute to the smaller piccolo in State High’s marching and concert bands.

“I realized I could still do my favorite things. It just took a little bit of adaptation,” said Allen, who still uses her right hand for writing but her left for most everything else.

She graduated from State High in 2000, and from Penn State in 2004. For the past three years, she’s worked at the Day-bridge Child Development Center in Innovation Park.

She credits her experience teaching 2-and 3-year-olds with convincing her that she could raise a child of her own. She used to wonder how she could teach a kid to ride a bike, if she couldn’t do so herself.

“I realized I could play with him. You know, I might not be able to run like I used to, because I might have pain,” Allen said. “But I can still always be there and support him.”

Ed Mahon can be reached at 231-4619.