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Show Wednesday, August 18, 2004 B1 Community Calendar (5I By Maureen Spencer Express Writer With thousands of eyes upon her every move, Lacy Long had represented repre-sented herself, her family and her county with dignity and grace. Now she was seeking the opportunity oppor-tunity to represent her state in the 2001 Miss Utah Scholarship Pageant as she stepped into the spotlight to perform her jazz dance as Miss Uintah County. Many young women dream of the opportunity to become a pageant queen and enjoy the spotlight time and potential for obtaining further goals. Although she would not be selected Miss Utah, wearing her county's crown was an exciting honor for this high school senior. She carries her striking natural beauty quietly. People were, and still are, impressed by her confidence confi-dence and the influence that she has upon those around her. Patty Long could tell that the pageant pag-eant had taken a toll on her daughter. daugh-ter. "I thought it was the stress," she says, looking back. Patty says that she and their family, fam-ily, husband Jody and their sons Cody, Ryan, Rhet and Jeff feel, "maybe we needed all of this self confidence experience for what was to come." In under six weeks, Lacy Long's life would become a nightmare. For Jody and Patty Long, raising their children in the town that had always been home to them seemed like the natural thing to do. Another "natural" thing for many youngsters young-sters in the county is belonging to 4-H, so the Longs started their children chil-dren raising 4-H livestock. Lacy always loved horses. She was told that if she worked hard enough to keep one she could get one, and in her 7th grade, three-year-old Star joined her life. Star was Lacy's from the 7th grade to the year following her high school graduation. To help cover college tuition expenses, Star was sold to a young 4-H girl in Rangely. "Once in awhile I get a card saying say-ing how she is doing. Selling her wasn't easy, I can tell you that." She hasn't seen Star since the sale. "The first thing I want to do when I'm out of school is get a horse. I LOVE horses!" Lacy is preparing to finish her registered nursing degree at Dixie. Lacy has been pretty well tied to staying at home since her high school graduation. Following graduation, Lacy worked at a popular local restaurant. restau-rant. She had trouble breathing at night and had always been "small" for her average family size. One afternoon after-noon Lacy turned her head quickly and experienced a sharp pain in her throat. At first she thought it was a bee sting, but she could see the spot "filling up" and swelling dramatically. dramati-cally. Taken to the Roosevelt Hospital she was given an antibiotic for a growing cyst on her thyroid. Her physician felt uncomfortable because a cyst this large and growing grow-ing was rare. Forty CC of fluid was removed from the lump that continued contin-ued to grow. Her physician remained uneasy. "It takes years for a thyroid to secrete that much. The very next day the lump was bigger than before." Lacy uses the word "huge." His options running out, her doctor doc-tor could see the medications were not working and advised the family that there were two options-drain it once more or remove the cyst. "What would you do," Patty asked the doctor. He had to admit he would remove the cyst. The minor surgery was planned for that week. Since having her tonsils removed had been Lacy's only surgical experience, expe-rience, she anticipated nothing more than a small incision to remove about 12 of her thyroid. The surgery was well-timed. It was 10 days before her age would remove her from her parents' insurance. insur-ance. There was one notable concern--the vocal cord nerves are located right underneath the thyroid. The surgery could destroy her ability to speak. It was the surgeon's responsibility respon-sibility to advise the family of the risk. "I agreed to the surgery," she recalls. Waiting for their daughter's minor surgery to end, the Longs became alarmed as hour after hour passed. It took five hours to remove the tumor the size of a man's hand that was discovered, stuffed under her ffamrallsf collar bone, thereby not exhibiting exhibit-ing a lump. Tumorous "feelers" had grown through her neck to the base of her brain. One "feeler" had popped. While it took five hours to remove, it took only a split second for the scalpel to sever her right vocal chord nerve, located against a part of the tumor. In the recovery room, Lacy awakened to an anxiety attack. "I opened my eyes and the whole family fam-ily was there crying. The doctor had a 'look on his face' that told me something had gone wrong." When she was asked by the surgeon sur-geon to speak to him, she could emit no sound whatsoever. "I didn't know why I couldn't talk or why I hurt so much or why my family was there." She remembers the hours following follow-ing surgery as horrible. "I felt like I was dying and couldn't stop vomit- With exasperation in her voice, she adds, "I just didn't know how to deal with not being able to talk." She acknowledges her family's strong belief in the power of prayer as instrumental in getting her through the immediate crisis. Because the tumor samples had to be sent away for diagnosis, her fear that she had cancer was a constant terror. Eventually the tests returned showing the tumor to be benign. For two weeks at home she remained on the couch with her mother sleeping on the floor. She was so weak that she couldn't walk or function by herself. She lost 15 pounds in three weeks. Her appetite was gone. Says Patty, recovery was a slow process. The whole family took one day at a time. Lacy's brothers literally liter-ally put their lives on hold as Ryan returned from school in Oregon and Cody returned from his job in Colorado to provide moral support for their sister. They would stay home for her for the most part of a year. Family strength is an important impor-tant part of life for the Longs. When others couldn't be with Lacy during her recovery, younger brothers Rhet and Jeff never left her side. Her brothers are her heroes. By the time of the surgery, Lacy had become a full-time student at Utah State University extension and most of her teachers were understanding. under-standing. By Thanksgiving she returned to school-with no voice. She also returned to work as a waitress-with no voice-using a quiet whisper to communicate. Most of her customers were concerned con-cerned and understanding. Some refused her services thinking her to be sick. "It was a hard time for me. I was mostly embarrassed that I couldn't talk." Four months following surgery she and brother Jeff began driving to the Freestone Heritage Walking Park to help strengthen her. In February, on a drive home from the park, a telephone pole obscured her vision as she pulled into an intersection. intersec-tion. She was struck by a vehicle going 45 miles per hour. "It smacked me in the side." Her body took all of the impact as the door crushed in on her. Unconscious, she was removed from the shattered driver's side by use of the jaws of life. Again, the family credits her father's prayer at the scene as instrumental instru-mental in her recovery. Bruised, scraped and sporting a goose egg Lacy's body took the full impact of I j 7--- - ' -v- ' lws " " " pws sftireirDg)filhi rfl-MTitfru Lacy Long represented Uintah on her head from breaking the window, win-dow, Lacy survived. The wreck broke loose adhesions in her neck from the thyroid surgery which had impaired raising her head. "So the wreck was kind of a good thing," she offers optimistically. Still speechless, Lacy was referred to a specialist in vocal cord and voice repair. Collagen injections began in the paralyzed vocal cord. "As soon as the injection was completed, I could speak with a normal voice," she recalls earnestly. "It was amazing". I thought at first there is no way that would work. He removed the needle and told me to count to 10." Her voice was clear and strong. Her restored voice lasted three months before wearing off. The procedure was repeated to buy time for the year of healing to be completed com-pleted following the initial nerve damage. She began documenting and recording everything involved in her injury and surgeries as she became a case study at the University of Utah Medical Center. A quarter of an inch had to remain on the damaged cord to successfully be reconnected. this collision. Her injuries were a : xA C'. V ' - OX. r - . i - f ? t : - - j ' ' , : , J I ',.-V-- ' v - - x v"-- - . - f " - " ' r . J . x i v, . X wk J 3 " ! ! . "-- 'l.:- - . "A - ' ' i y jjrv. -Z,-L County well at the 2001 Miss Utah Ji-" i I li t i- , .if-- ... HAM t&3 I, Winning is a strong tradition for Lacy Long and her family. Years of 4-H livestock competition is reflected on many of the family home walls. In December, 2003, she checked into the U of U Medical Center. "I looked around the waiting room. I wondered why I was feeling sorry for myself-so many were worse off couple of bruises. Pageant. 11 - A 4 ' . than me. I was expecting the worst case scenario. I was ready for this to be the way I would be for the rest of my life." Another five hours in surgery successfully suc-cessfully reconnected the vocal cord nerve. "Recovery from that was cake!" she grins. She didn't even require a postoperative pain pill. "As soon as I woke up I could talk fine." As Miss Uintah County 2001, Lacey had a platform bringing awareness to special needs children. She donated 1 ,000 hours of service to them. She conducted a Special Olympics in which over 100 kids participated. She presently works at the Uintah Care Center, and looks back upon her experiences since performing perform-ing on the stage at the Miss Utah Scholarship Pageant. "It has made me a better person. I have learned a lot of compassion at the Care Center. I know what it's like to be laying there needing someone." She readily admits that she wouldn't be the person that she is without all of her experiences during dur-ing the past three years. k 1 i i aft W" . ' s ? -fS iiLf I ! f I : l August 18 Uintah County Fair parade will begin at 6 pjn. Parade participants par-ticipants will meet at the Vernal Middle School parking lot. From there they will travel north on 700 West to Main Street, onto which they will turn east and continue on Main Street until they reach 300 East, where they will turn south and end the parade at the Western Park. Baby Book Shower, 10:30 ajn. at Prime Time 4 Kids located next to Cinema 5. Free $20 literacy lit-eracy book packet, door prizes and refreshments. Early literacy information sponsored by Uintah County Literacy Commission, Uintah School District and Prime Time 4 Kids. August 19 TOPS meets in Conference Room of Vernal City Building 1 1 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Gwen Peterson, 789-8356. Open house 1 1:30 a jti. August 20 Community dance at Golden Age Center, 155 South 100 West, 8-10 p.m. every Friday night. Kay's Band provides the music. Open House 10 a.m.-l p.m. at Vernal Junior High School. Hot dogs, drinks and ice cream. Public welcome to view the newly completed com-pleted Jr. High renovations. August 21 Diamond Mountain Rustlers, a local single action shooting society, soci-ety, meets the third Saturday of each month. Contact Norm Pease at 789-7563 or Richard Olsen at 828-4000 for more information. Uintah County Fair wraps up with the Demolition Derby at 7 p.m. at the Western Park outdoor arena. August 26 TOPS meets in Conference Room of Vernal City Building 1 1 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Gwen Peterson, 789-8356. Open house 11:30 a.m. August 27 Community dance at Golden Age Center, 155 South 100 West, 8-10 p.m. every Friday night. Kay's Band provides the music. September 8-12 Meeker Classic Sheepdog Championship Trials, Meeker, Colo. Sept 8-12. North America's top dogs & handlers. Colo.'s wildest wild-est sheep. Pancake breakfasts, lamb BBQ, craft fair, art auction. Tickets at gate. (970) 878-5510 or www.meekersheepdog.com. September 14 AVMC Diabetes Support Group, 6:30 p.m. in the AVMC medical offices conference room, located on the ground floor of the building adjoining the hospital on the east side. Topic will be "Is Diabetes Breaking Your Heart?" with guest speaker Dr. Michael Olsen. October 12 AVMC Diabetes Support Group, 6:30 pjn. in the AVMC medical offices conference room, located on the ground floor of the building adjoining the hospital on the east side. Topic will be "Brown Bag Medication Review" with guest speakers Pharm D's Dave Bestenlehner and Ben Semadeni. s November 9 AVMC Diabetes Support Group, 6:30 pjn. in the AVMC medical offices conference room, located on the ground floor of the building adjoining the hospital on the east side. The group will visit the Diabetes Health Fair for the afternoon. December 14 AVMC Diabetes Support Group, 6:30 pm. in the AVMC medical offices conference room, located on the ground floor of the building adjoining the hospital on the east side. Topic will be "Does Diabetes Have you Singin' the Blues?" To place items of public interest on the Community Calendar, mail to the Vernal Express, P.O. Box 1000, E-mail, editorvernal.cora, or call the Vernal Express at 789' 3511. 1 81704 10:05:18 PM |