FIGHTING BACK

Life has been filled with challenges over the past few years for a rural Austin teenager that she has even surprised herself with what she has been able to accomplish in light of those challenges.
Mariah Miller, a junior at Albert Lea High School, has been fighting hydrocephalus and as a result has faced two brain surgeries since May 2018. The illness means she has had too much brain fluid in her ventricles.
“It was very scary, I was losing myself,” Miller recalled of learning the diagnosis in ninth grade. “I laid in bed and slept all the time. I was losing hope.”
Doctors delivered the terrifying news to Miller that there was no cure to her illness and that she “would always have it.” She also learned that it was unknown how many surgeries she would need to keep things under control. She has since been placed on medication for the rest of her life.
As she deals with daily life, Miller typically is faced with a “bad migraine” at least once a week. The migraines can turn to seizures. “Every migraine I have can lead to brain surgery again and I would have to start over,” she says. “I could go my whole life with no problems. I don’t know,” she added.
She admits the headaches put a “big dent” in her life, but she finds ways to get through it. “I’m not going to let anything stop me from doing what I want to do,” Miller said.
Miller credits her faith in God for pulling her through these trying times. She spent nearly 18 months on the road to recovery. “I have a life again,” she said. “I didn't think I would have a life again. I was so out of it for the past 18 months. I just surprised everyone.”
Facing a life of uncertainty, Miller has found ways to excel in her life. She is a member of the Albert Lea Future Farmers of America chapter and shows animals at county and state fairs. She has been obtaining A’s on her school grades. And she holds down a steady part-time job as a CNA at Prairie Manor Care Center in Blooming Prairie.
“I didn’t think I would be able to work,” Miller said. “I surprised myself the most.”
Being ill and spending time in the hospital opened Miller’s eyes to getting a job in the healthcare field. “I became a CNA because I was in the hospital so much and saw what nurses do,” she related. She added that she has had some “bad nurses” along the way, motivating her even more to want to be a “better nurse” for patients.
She plans to go to nursing school after graduating from high school. Miller hopes to have 35 college credits completed by the time she graduates in 2021.
Miller takes pride in taking care of and showing cows. “I was showing cows before I was hanging out with friends,” she said. She found that the cows helped keep her spirits up when she couldn’t do anything else. She shared how she often came out of her room to show cows only to go back into her room to sleep again a short time later.
Just last year, Miller had a grand champion junior heifer at the Minnesota State Fair. “I love cows,” she said. “They are like really big dogs,” she added.
It frustrates Miller now because she can’t be in the barns taking care of her animals because of “all the noise and dust.”
In school, Miller has taken a liking to trap shooting. In one competition, she earned 97 out of 100, the highest female score. “Trap shooting is my thing because I can’t do other sports,” she said.
Going forward Miller will be forced to have a CT scan once a year at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
Through this great adversity in life, Miller credits her mother, Michelle, with being the biggest support she has had to lean on.