When Madi Klauer answered the phone on Jan. 4, 2015, she heard four life-changing words from her mother.
“You have Lyme disease.”
Klauer’s reaction wasn’t one of sadness, anger or frustration. Instead, the current Valparaiso freshman swimmer was overcome with positive emotions.
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“I was so relieved,” Klauer said. “I had been going through this for years without an answer. I finally had an answer for what made me so sick. I cried, I was so grateful.”
Klauer’s health struggle started at age 10, when she began experiencing inexplicable abdominal pain. After five years of tests for various ailments, she had her gallbladder removed in May 2012.
That procedure didn’t solve her problems, and she found herself in the hospital at the University of Chicago in February 2013, her junior year at Kankakee Valley. Then, Klauer’s health took a turn for the worse. She had severe abdominal pain and lost her ability to eat.
A nasogastric tube, a feeding tube that goes from the nose to the stomach, provided Klauer’s nutrition. It was removed after three weeks, but it was only the first in a series of feeding tubes she has used since that time.
Klauer was released from the hospital and did well for a while, but she lost quality of life in December 2014. She had extreme muscle and joint pain that prevented her from getting out of bed on certain days. If there was too much going on around her, she would experience debilitating migraines.
“It was humbling because now I will never take the ability to eat or the ability to get out of bed for granted,” Klauer said. “It was frustrating because I would wonder how my body could be so wonderful one day and the next day I’d be stuck inside it.”
The day after she received the diagnosis, Klauer began treatment. Even though the treatment and medicine made her extremely ill, she continued to swim for the Kougars throughout her senior season.
“Sometimes if I raced really hard, when I would get out of the water, I wouldn’t be able to control my legs,” she said. “I couldn’t stand on them and if I did, they would be so wobbly that I would need a friend’s help.”
During her latest hospital stay, which came last May, Klauer committed to Valparaiso University from her hospital bed. Her lifelong plan was to go away to school, but she needed to stay close to her doctors and family members. Valparaiso provided the chance to stay on campus while remaining in Northwest Indiana.
Now, Klauer is doing well, living life as a normal college freshman. She hasn’t been on a feeding tube since June, though she takes medicine daily to maintain quality of life. However, she will always have the chronic disease. She’ll likely be back in treatment during the spring or summer.
Despite her illness, Klauer manages the already challenging balance of being a nursing major and Division I athlete. She swims freestyle and breaststroke for coach Howard Hunte.
“I’ve had other coaches before that just care about how many points you score and how you do in a game or meet,” Klauer said. “Howard cares about you not only as a swimmer, but as a person.”
Hunte said his biggest challenge is pushing Klauer enough without pushing her too much. Coaching someone with Lyme disease has been a learning experience for him.
“Her joints and her muscles hurt, yet every day she’s full of smiles,” Hunte said. “She’s always positive and full of happiness.”
Brandon Vickrey is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.