This is Sideline Stories. A platform where NE10 student-athletes can share their collegiate experiences in an unfiltered environment - using their voices to promote growth and positive change in our league and in all of NCAA Division II athletics.

Alexis Roth, a sophomore on the Adelphi track and field team, has overcome remarkable hardship with a life-threatening medical condition. Despite her difficulties, she has found the courage to persevere and not be defined by her obstacles. Here is her Sideline Story:

When I discovered track and field in seventh grade, I felt like I found a home away from home. I remember my parents liked that it wasn’t a contact sport and my dad said, “As long as she isn’t hurdling or pole vaulting, she won’t get hurt."

Little did he know, my coach introduced me to hurdles and I knew that was where I felt the connection. It was something that had given me joy for the first time in years within athletics.

While at practice toward the end of the season, I felt lightheaded and dizzy and was helped to the nurse. Everyone, including me, though it was from the heat and dehydration. Later we found out, as these symptoms would come and go, that it was the signs of a much bigger problem. There were days I wasn’t able to get out of bed and others when I was fine. It took six months of doctors and emergency room visits to find out what was happening.

In September of 2013 I had been unable to remain awake in class and was sent to the nurse. I collapsed on the way to her office. Later that night in the ER my family and I found out that all my symptoms were caused by a brain tumor (we later found out it was benign) that had blocked my basilar artery, which resulted in a condition called hydrocephalus.

Hydrocephalus (which is water on the brain), if left untreated, can result in the ventricles bursting and cause a stroke or death. We were told that I needed to have immediate brain surgery and the neurosurgeon said it was a miracle that I was still functioning. One of the most important things he said to me that day was that my being an athlete very likely saved my life.

During the two surgeries I had that week, a device called a shunt was inserted to redirect the fluid into my abdomen so the pressure does not build up. Unfortunately, the neurosurgeon said he could not safely remove the tumor.

Since that time, I have had four more brain surgeries. The problem with the shunt is that they do fail and the only way to replace it is another brain surgery. I had one shunt failure and then in 2017, I had the scariest and most involved surgery. Through a recommendation for a second opinion, we found Dr. Steven Schneider.

I remember going into his office after my MRI and how he spoke to me and looked me in the eye when he told my family and I he could get the tumor. He added that if we waited it would only complicate things and he recommended doing it sooner rather than later.

It was October of 2016 and I said that I didn’t want to miss track and I also didn’t want to miss out on a track clinic that summer. He told me we could wait as long as I had no issues and planned his summer vacation around my track clinic. He didn’t want me to miss out on the clinic and he told me he expected me to do great things.

In July of 2017, I had the surgery to remove the tumor. My mother told me the doctor came out to tell my family it went well and that the first thing I did was ask if I could still run. A few days after the tumor was removed, the doctors felt I no longer needed the shunt feeling the blockage had been removed.

Unfortunately, five weeks later I was rushed to the hospital with the original symptoms, and a shunt was reinserted. I know now there is the possibility of never being shunt free, and that is okay with me. With every follow up visit, he asks how I am progressing with my track times.

When I was originally choosing a place to start my collegiate track and academic career, my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer and it was not the most optimal time to make a conscious decision on where to take my education next.

So when it came down to it, I basically drew Iona College out of a hat, as it had been one of the very few colleges I had visited, but the only one to which I had been able to focus on since it was the most recent. Due to the lack of an established track team at Iona, I knew I had to make the best decision for my track career and being able to find Adelphi was a blessing.

Since I had made the decision to transfer to Adelphi and began speaking to Coach Rees and finalizing everything, the process was made to be astonishingly smooth and fast. They had even invited me to attend the team photos after I had left my previous college to go home.

The coaches talked with me throughout the whole time we were there and I even began talking to my teammates and immediately felt welcomed, even before fully transferring. The first practice was the best one I have had in years. Coach Kelvin, my sprint and hurdles coach, took what events I had run before into consideration when deciding what my primary event was. From there he slowly built me up through designing an individual workout plan to get me to where the rest of my teammates were.

My teammates never let me feel like an odd man out and even began inviting me out within the first few weeks of training with them. They were so excited to have me there and being welcomed was something I had been nervous about.

Befriending my teammates Kiara and Danalia helped a lot too. On our way to one meet, we sat at the back of the bus and they were helping me do my hair in braids, that's how Kiara and Danalia learned about my condition and saw my scar. They still never treated me any differently though. That is when I knew I had found the place where I belonged.

When researching where to transfer, I had visited Stony Brook and Adelphi, the vibe being drastically different. I stepped onto the Adelphi campus with my parents and throughout the tour, it felt like I belonged here. My father looked at me and said he had a feeling this is where I belonged. I had agreed with him and my mother, and I know for certain I had made the right choice.

There have been a few hiccups with my condition since then, but I am determined that it will not stop me. All of the wonderful people I have met since my diagnosis have made me a better person. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Dalilah Muhammad and train with her through Suffolk County Make A Wish where I now volunteer and speak at events to raise funds to grant more wishes.

I have the opportunity raise awareness of this condition. Though the journey hasn’t always been easy it has made me who I am today and I wouldn’t change a thing. My team logo for the Hydrocephalus Walk really says it all.

Hydrocephalus – It’s Just Another Hurdle.

-Alexis Roth