Kellenberg H.S. classmates with brain ailments helped each other

Classmates Erin Von Elm, Anneliese Riesterer and Sarah Lyne are three of a kind in an improbable and inspiring way.

They were each diagnosed with brain ailments, months apart during their junior year, that required surgery to save their lives or maintain basic functions.

Von Elm was the first to learn she had a tumor, followed by Riesterer's diagnosis of an arteriovenous malformation and then Lyne's diagnosis of two brain tumors. Von Elm and Riesterer were neighbors and friends whose shared experience only brought them closer. They knew of Lyne, but never really interacted because they were in different social groups. That all changed when doctors found a tumor in Lyne's brain.

"Having Sarah and Anneliese is a blessing because they help me feel like I'm not so alone," Von Elm said. "Sure, this bad thing happened to me, but it also happened to somebody else, and now we all have each other to lean on."

The three missed months of classes at Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale but never fell behind in their studies. They all graduated with their class on June 1.

"They never let it take any of the fun out of their life," said Robert York, a teacher and guidance counselor. "They never let it bother them, they always kept a positive outlook . . . they looked at it as another challenge they would have to overcome."

All three said having classmates and friends who went through similar surgeries made the whole experience easier and gave them hope, strength, ambition and appreciation for their now healthy lives.

"I think that if they both didn't get sick last year, it would have been a lot more self pity for myself," Lyne said of Von Elm and Riesterer.

The unique sisterhood inspired Riesterer to follow her classmates' example. "It gave me confidence to go back to school," she said. "They did it, so I can do it."

ERIN VON ELM

Erin Von Elm, now 17, started having headaches in September 2012, soon after the start of junior year. She went to see her doctor and was told the cause was likely stress -- unless she awoke the next day in similar pain.

"Of course the next morning I open my eyes with the headache and I ran downstairs," she said. Von Elm went to the hospital, had a CT scan and waited hours for her results.

"The doctor called over my mom and I knew something was up," she said.

Von Elm, who lives in Hempstead, went to Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park and was told she had an atypical neurocytoma -- a rare tumor at the center of her brain -- and would need surgery.

"The only thing I've ever had was a tooth pulled," she said. "I've never even broken a bone, so finding out that somebody would have to go into my head was probably the scariest thought that has ever crossed my mind."

She had her first surgery in the middle of September, and recalls feeling "great" afterward. But then came a second more invasive surgery, followed by a third one. Her tumor was in a spot that blocked the flow of cerebral fluid. Doctors wanted to put a shunt in the back of her brain to regulate the flow of fluid and release blocked-up fluid.

Von Elm had 31 radiation treatments after her surgeries. A piece of the tumor remains and could eventually grow.

"Someday I wish that my doctors will just tell me that it miraculously disappeared, but I'm not even sure if that day will ever arrive," she said. "So for right now, I thank God that the small piece isn't growing and that I'm not affected by it. It's a part of me that I've learned to accept."

Von Elm said she is excited about going to college so she can "turn something that was so terrible into something great." She will attend Hofstra University, where she plans to study education. She wants to work as a specialist assisting patients and their families at Cohen, where her surgeries were performed.

WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY

My saying through this whole thing was, 'I'm too blessed to be stressed' . . . I liked having the support group that I had and just coming through this and being able to tell everybody about it."

SARAH LYNE

Sarah Lyne, 18, had endured headaches for two years before an MRI in January 2013 revealed a tumor. Leaving it in place meant side effects that included a droopy face and impaired speech and mobility.

The next month, Lyne, who lives in Lido Beach, went to the hospital for her scheduled surgery and was met with more devastating news -- a second tumor had been found.

"That was terrible," she said.

Lyne underwent surgery that day and both tumors were removed. She was released from the hospital after five days but couldn't walk after the procedure and had to use a walker for a short period. The surgery also caused damage to her neck, and she is still trying to regain her full range of motion.

Lyne, who had played on Kellenberg's soccer team for three years, had to sit out her senior season. But she stayed involved by becoming team manager.

"It was the worst thing, but I guess being part of the team helps because you still have that atmosphere and experience," she said.

Lyne is going to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She said she is looking forward to studying kinesiology. She wants to be a physical therapist because of her post-surgical experiences.

WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY

When people are constantly saying you are so strong and you don't feel it at all, you begin to believe it after a while."

ANNELIESE RIESTERER

About four months after Von Elm started having headaches, Anneliese Riesterer woke up early on a Saturday at home in Hempstead with a bad pain in the back of her head. She told her mother and they eventually called 911.

At first, they were told it could be the flu and that she didn't need to go to the hospital. But the pain got worse so they called 911 again and an ambulance arrived. Riesterer's father, Karl, a former EMT, came home to check on her.

"I remember sitting at the top of the stairs, seeing the EMTs bring in the stretcher, and then I blacked out," she recalled.

Riesterer woke up in the back of the ambulance, with her father at her side, telling her to try to stay awake, but she couldn't. She woke up almost a week later from a medically induced coma. She could hear, but she couldn't see or talk and had limited movement. She had had a stroke.

A week later, as she slowly recovered, she was told she had arteriovenous malformation in her brain -- an abnormal connection between arteries and veins, bypassing the capillary system -- and it had ruptured.

"The scary part was that they said, 'You could have died,' " Riesterer said. "I was that close to dying."

She began a course of therapy to help her learn to walk and speak again.

Riesterer, now 18, returned to Kellenberg in May 2013, but was still unable to walk, so she used a wheelchair. She then progressed to a walker, then a cane, both of which she said her friends decorated.

Sitting with Von Elm and Lyne, Riesterer laughed, saying it was fun to make her way around the school with the walker and cane.

In July 2013, the malformation was removed using a gamma knife, a much less invasive surgery than originally scheduled. Her stroke affected the left side of her body, so she can't run and has yet to regain fine motor skills in her left hand.

Riesterer had played tennis for nine years. She can no longer do so, but last season she was named team manager. At the fall athletics banquet, she was given the "Most Committed Player" award.

Riesterer will attend Hofstra and plans to study business. She said she is looking forward to "learning a lot. I eventually want to work for Disney . . . seeing how happy people are, I want to be part of it."

WHAT MAKES YOU EXTRAORDINARY

Just people telling me: 'Wow, you went through this.' . . . You feel like you have done something even though something bad has happened to you."