Holding her head high

BERLIN TWP. — Throughout her entire childhood, Avery Rutherford eagerly awaited those precious upper-class years in high school. Like her peers, she wanted to play varsity sports, attend proms and, simply put, hang out with friends — especially now, at an age, when they can drive. But she never fully enjoyed or truly experienced traditional teenage activities throughout her junior and senior years. And that's what made June 2 so special for her. Unsure just a few weeks prior if she could participate in Edison High School's commencement ceremony, the 2024 graduate did end up walking across the stage to receive her diploma. Even more impressive, she addressed the entire senior class with a poignant speech, giving her friends, their families and all supporters in attendance — packing Edison High School's gymnasium — some advice. "Whatever you choose to do, do as the best version of yourself," Avery said in her speech. "If you can do that, then you can say you're successful." While on the surface, some may view this as a generic suggestion, Avery truly lived this mantra. "This entire time, I have realized to not take anything for granted," Avery said. "I really enjoy all the small things. While I wish I could have done more, I'm glad to be in a better place than I was." What happened During Avery's junior year, she began to suffer from excruciating headaches. Because of the pain she experienced, Avery ended up missing several weeks of school and, amid this, made a difficult decision regarding her immediate future. "I had to step down from a lot of leadership positions," said Avery, noting she temporarily stepped aside from Interact Club, which hosts many community service-based programs, and gave up her coveted roster spots on Edison's varsity basketball and track teams. "My long-term health was more important than me than scoring a few points," Avery said. At first, she struggled. "It was hard seeing all of my friends do the things that I wanted to do, but I knew I would face repercussions if I did them," she said. "It just made me wish I could have done all of it for longer." Even after Avery lightened up her personal schedule, which lacked virtually any extracurriculars, her health still didn't improve. She missed a considerable amount of time in school, instead spending countless hours in medical offices as doctors tried to accurately pinpoint her condition. In total, Avery ended up seeing eight doctors while traveling from facility to hospital in search of answers. Alongside her the entire time: her parents, Bree and Kevin Rutherford. "We didn't have any direction, and she was just taking drug after drug," Bree said. "It was almost like trial-and-error: take this drug, try to find the right combination of different meds and see how she felt. But we would always end up going back." Avery truly felt like a test subject and not a patient. "I went through so many medications," she said. "When I first got diagnosed, they were pumping so many meds into me. One time, it was eight different ones in a single day." The seemingly endless cycle took a great toll on everyone in the Rutherford household, especially Avery. "The biggest thing, for me, was the mental side of things: I was worried about her mental health and what she was going through and all that she was missing out on," Bree said. At her lowest point, Avery isolated herself from the outside world. Inside her home, family members accommodated her every need. For instance, they would turn off the lights, often eating in pitch-black conditions, and couldn't watch TV. Those lights and sounds caused great pain to Avery. And forgot about going out to eat or visiting a friend's house. Those options didn't exist for Avery over the course of many months. "I hated the way I felt and the way it made my body feel," Avery said. Despite the hardships, Avery stayed motivated, remaining determined to overcome this, at the time, unknown diagnosis. "I just wanted to figure out what was going on with me." And she did. Altruism at its finest In mid-2023, upon wrapping up her junior year, a major breakthrough for Avery occurred when doctors learned she suffered from daily chronic migraines. From this, they formulated a plan with proper prescriptions to stave off this condition. It's worked, in large part, ever since then. "I've been really good lately," Avery said just a few days after graduating from her home in Berlin Township. "Four months ago, I doubled the dosage of my medication, and I started doing monthly nerve block injections." She called her new plan of attack "life-changing." "Opposed to having four or five days that are super bad, I have zero or just one day a week that are super bad," Avery said. "I can hang out with friends, go to restaurants, watch TV. What everyone else takes for granted, I appreciate so much." While no longer playing sports and forgoing both of her proms, Avery felt well enough to help organize what's known as Dance Marathon, which occurred in late March. During her senior year, one of the only extracurricular activities Avery kept on her schedule revolved around Teen Leadership Corps. It's a class that empowers teenagers to achieve their leadership potential through a character and service-based curriculum. The 12-hour, all-night dancing event, which dozens of students attended, raised money so they could purchase cancer care kits for local cancer patients. These kits — filled with items like mints, candies, journals, writing utensils, activity books and more — aim to help uplift cancer patients. Jen Seel, who teaches this class at Edison High School, praised Avery for tirelessly working to help coordinate this event, which she attended for all 12 hours. Seel described Avery as an intelligent student and, more importantly, a caring person. "In a world where true altruism is rare, Avery stands out as a shining example," Seel said. "She is driven by a passion to serve others and has a kind heart." Through the class, with Seel's blessing, Avery personally hosted two individual drives titled: • Hoops for Migraines, in which she raised more than $2,500 for migraine research during an Edison girls basketball game • Memory Books, in which she helped residents at Norwalk Memorial Home, where she previously worked, document their personal histories; Each person's book included life facts, family information, schooling and random questions, which help highlight and preserve one's legacy. "In all that she did as a leader in Edison High School's Teen Leadership Corps program, she went above and beyond all expectations, inspiring her peers and setting a high standard for what it means to lead with grace and dedication," Seel said. Looking ahead Avery got accepted into several colleges but ultimately ended up selecting Purdue University in Indiana where she'll study pharmacy beginning this fall. "I got interested in wondering how medications work and how they affect the body," said Avery, who, more specifically, wants to specialize in clinical pharmacy. "I'm excited because I'm going to be in a learning community where all the pharmacy majors live together and go to conferences." Her career choice is 100% influenced by her diagnosis. "Migraines are understudied and under-researched," said Avery, who previously expressed interest in engineering. "I want to work in a hospital setting, working directly with patients who need immediate help." Bree knows she'll succeed in this field. "She's leaps and bounds ahead of most kids her age," Bree said. "She is very responsible about her physical and mental health. She is very conscious about others and their journeys, too. She is always looking out for others and seeing how she can make an impact in someone else's life." Avery looks forward to the next stage of her life, one in which she's, hopefully, no longer hurting and can offer help for others in pain. "I'm very proud of myself," Avery said. "I had to work really hard to get to where I am, and having a chronic illness, it made me work that much harder in school to progress to where I am today. I know I still have a lot to achieve, but getting here now, it's been very rewarding."