Adesh’s Story
Hey everyone! My name is Adesh Urval and I am a senior in AED. I’ve been at home (in Wheeling, West Virginia) for the last year getting treatment for a rare autoimmune disease called Primary Central Nervous System Vasculitis so a lot of the FA’s, pledges and TA’s might not know me, but I wanted to take this chance to tell you all a little bit about myself and my experiences and about how excited I am to meet everyone when I can get back to Ann Arbor.
The first thing I realized after getting diagnosed with this disease was how frustrating it can be to not have an answer as a patient. When I first showed up in my local hospital the doctors who read my MRI said the intracerebral hemorrhage I had should have left me unable to walk or talk. Shortly after, I had a seizure (the first of many in the last year) and was airlifted to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, WV. Even there, the doctors were puzzled about my condition; first assuming I had HSV encephalitis before starting me on high dose prednisone during my 11 day hospitalization. I was referred from Ruby to a neuroimmunologist at Cleveland Clinic who I assumed would easily find a treatment for my disease. I even began planning my summer term classes which were coming up in a few weeks. Then, the setbacks began. First a series of generalized tonic-clonic seizures over the course of two months. Then, a new treatment called Intravenous Immunoglobulin which failed to prevent new hemorrhage and further seizures. Finally, a new supposedly miracle treatment called rituximab also failed and left me with a new bleed on my cerebellum. All of these setbacks changed my understanding of medicine in general. As William Osler, one of the founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital said “medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability”.
I’m no novice when it comes to resiliency. I watched my brother fight acute lymphoblastic leukemia during his college years and, as I’m writing this, I am continuing to fight my disease and find a long term treatment that works. Putting my life on pause, being away from all the amazing people in AED and not being able to stay in Ann Arbor has been extremely difficult, but it has taught me a lot. One thing I learned is that the most important thing for a health professional is to be empathetic. Whether a doctor, nurse, physician’s assistant or anyone who interacts with a patient, treating that patient like your own family member or even like an extension of yourself can change the outcome of their life whether you have the exact treatment for their illness from the start or not.
Although battling this disease has been incredibly difficult and I still don’t know if I will fully recover, I have been amazed by the support I got not only from the people involved in my treatment but also from my friends in AED. As I start a new treatment (one that I hope will be the answer) I want to say that I am so excited to hopefully see you all this winter term. If any of the new members want to reach out to me for any reason please feel free to text or email me.
Phone: 304-312-5562
Email: adeshurv@umich.edu
AED Love,
Adesh
