Lisa Heller

Lisa Heller

Sweat dripping down my cheeks, arms pumping my body forward, my ponytail swinging from shoulder to shoulder, heart beating in my ear, I began the third lap and suddenly it felt like a boa constrictor was wrapping tighter and tighter around my neck... Eyelids heavy, I slowly opened my groggy eyes and there was a circle of coaches, nurses, teammates, my sister and mom standing over me, wide-eyed. Am I dreaming? My throat still felt as narrow as a straw and I was gasping for air. I peeked down at my hands, and they were unintentionally curled up into fists and I couldn’t uncurl them. My legs were tingling, prickling like needles. I tried to raise my left leg and it felt like 300 pounds. I heard someone whisper “she made it over the finish line and then just… collapsed”. Will I ever run again? This can’t be happening. “Lisa, breathe. Lisa!” Nurses were prodding me with wet towels and bagged ice, repeatedly saying my name and telling me to breathe, like I couldn’t remember myself. Am I dying? I lifted my head, looking around, confused, feeling defeated. I’m not done yet. Then I passed out again. I woke up at the emergency care center and the doctor told me that I had VCD (Vocal Cord Dysfunction). My form of VCD made my throat close up into a tiny little tube while I ran. My body would get less than 2/3rds of the air the average person would normally receive when inhaling. I was scared, confused and crushed. How would my parents feel? Am I letting them down? The doctor told me that one exercise to treat my VCD was singing because the act itself would relax my vocal cords. I had sung in the past as a hobby but had never taken it seriously, and sure enough it got me through every race. I would sing the national anthem quietly to myself during races. I ended up passing out right after the finish line every race that I had run. This happened over 20 times! It took me a while to realize that it was singing that helped me to relax and feel better about myself. The strug

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