NY Student Overcomes Odds To Earn Diploma, Inspire Class

By George Basler

Staff Writer

Danielle Askew admits she sometimes feels cheated by a life that is often a day-to-day struggle with pain and sickness.

"Sometimes I wonder, 'Why am I so sick all the time? Why has all this fun stuff been taken away from me?' " said the 17-year-old Endicott girl.

But many who know Askew said they would have felt cheated by not making the acquaintance of the young woman who graduated Saturday from Union-Endicott High School.

"I see her as a hero," said Mike Palmetier, a social studies teacher at the high school. He wrote in her yearbook: "You probably think the school has done so much for you, when you've done so much for the school."

In some ways, Askew has already beaten the odds. She was born with intrahepatic biliary dysgenesis, a disease that prevents the liver from ridding itself of bile. Doctors set her lifespan at three years. In 1989, she underwent a transplant to replace her liver that had been destroyed by the disease.

But by her 10th birthday, a neurogenic pseudo-obstruction - a condition that can occur after a liver transplant - was blocking her ability to digest properly. So in May 1995, Askew received an extremely rare five-organ transplant - liver, small and large intestines, stomach and pancreas - in a 13-hour operation at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

The young woman continues to struggle with serious health problems. She takes 23 medications, including daily intravenous fluids, to help her digest and help her body accept the organs.

Her fragile health is readily apparent in her stature. Growth hormones don't work for her, so at 4 feet tall she is much smaller than the typical high school senior.

Through it all, Askew has persevered. She came to school, first in a wheelchair and then walking. When she was too sick to come, she would receive home instruction. When she became so ill that she had to return to the Pittsburgh hospital for treatment, Union-Endicott would fax her work to teachers in the Pittsburgh school system who would work with her in the hospital.

Somehow, some way, she kept up with her classmates, and she graduated Saturday with the rest of her class at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. "I'm proud. I think every year I've accomplished something new," she said.

In the process, the young woman who has endured so much pain in her short 17 years of life became a symbol of courage for some at U-E High.

Copyright © 2000 The Binghamton Press Co., Binghamton, N.Y., a Gannett company.

This article posted July 2, 2000.