CINCINNATI — 18-year-old Gracelyn Reeder graduated from Ohio Virtual Academy on Sunday, but if you'd asked her one year ago, she wouldn't have believed it was possible.
“I didn't honestly even think I was going to live,” Reeder said. “I remember being terrified."
Last year, Reeder became sick. At first, she didn't think too much of it.
"So, I'm like, ‘oh, this is just the flu.’ I was throwing up,” she said.
But her symptoms got worse.
"I couldn't breathe, it was terrible," she said.
Reeder was rushed to the emergency room and was later transferred to UC Medical Center. Her team of doctors at UC made a shocking discovery: There were massive clots in the young woman's lungs.
"When I first met Gracelyn, the odds of her surviving the next 24 hours were very slim, almost without intervention," said Division Chief of Cardiac Surgery Dr. Louis B. Louis.
Reeder was immediately taken in for emergency surgery to remove the clots from her lungs.First, Louis put Reeder on life support.
“I didn't expect to wake up from that, I’m like ‘I’m going to die here. I'm dying,’" Reeder said.
But that's not what happened. Reeder defied all odds and recovered.
“When I finally came around, I was like, ‘Oh okay, I'm here.’"
Sunday, Reeder graduated from the Ohio Virtual Academy. The next day, she returned to UC medical center to thank the team of doctors that helped save her life.
“It's super special. Honestly, it's just nice seeing them all together," Reeder said.
Reeder said she will never forget the way her nurses and doctors went above and beyond to make her feel comfortable and taken care of.
“I don't get to see Dr. Louis very often, but when I do, it brings me a little spark of hope,” she said. “I love him to death."
Louis and Reeder have formed a strong bond since he was part of the care team who saved her life.
Louis said his interaction with his patients often ends once they are healed. He said it’s incredibly rewarding to see a patient come full circle, like Reeder.
“You see people that come back, and they have their lives back. They're being normal, young women that are enjoying life and graduating from high school and looking towards what's next,” Louis said. “That's really incredibly gratifying."
Reeder said she refused to let her adversity define her. While her medical emergency was an uphill battle, she was resilient and kept pushing forward.
"I think that my medical emergency helped me grow as a person, which is very weird to say out loud,” Reeder said. “I’ve taken a lot from this experience, and I’ve matured as a person."
Reeder said it allowed her to learn a lot about herself and what she can do.
“I'm just so proud of everything that she's done to really overcome some very unfair and challenging things that happened very early on in her life,” he said. “I'm really looking forward to all that she's going to accomplish and I'm glad that I play a part in that.”
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