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Hereabouts: West Carrollton senior  overcomes two surgeries

Carin Bell (left) and her mother, Valerie, endured a scary winter where Carin underwent two brain surgeries. Valerie works as a recreation monitor and pre-school assistant at Moraine’s Paine Recreation Center. Carin worked there with the home school gym program.

William G. Schmidt/Contributed photo Carin Bell (left) and her mother, Valerie, endured a scary winter where Carin underwent two brain surgeries. Valerie works as a recreation monitor and pre-school assistant at Moraine’s Paine Recreation Center. Carin worked there with the home school gym program.

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By William G. Schmidt, Contributing Writer 7:46 AM Wednesday, July 1, 2009

That Carin Bell graduated in the top 10 percent of her class at West Carrollton High School with a 3.9 GPA isn’t surprising.

She’s always been known for dedication to her education.

But it isn’t so much what she accomplished during her high school years as what she managed despite some serious difficulties.

In addition to her academic success, Bell was a member of the German club, art club and a student director for two of the high school plays. She also was a student mentor and a teacher’s aide.

Bell also was part of the school’s Post Secondary Enrollment Options program. She attended Sinclair College, taking classes in psychology, philosophy and sociology.

Bell had her hands full her senior year. Then in January, a strange headache presented itself.

“It came out of nowhere,” she said.

Her doctor at first suspected a migraine, but Bell knew better.

“It did not let up and I knew something was not right,” she said.

A trip to the emergency room at Kettering Medical Center and a CAT scan answered the question. It was an AVM, an arterio-venous malfunction.

That’s an abnormal collection of blood vessels in the brain. An AVM is often called a “short circuit,” where blood doesn’t nourish the brain but is instead shunted back to the heart.

Bell was transferred to Cincinnati, where she underwent two surgeries. The first fed a catheter from her femoral artery to the AVM to block it off.

A second surgery was necessary.

“I went back and they actually cut into my skull and fixed what was left,” she said.

Recuperation took three months of her senior year.

“The school was very accommodating,” Carin said. “I had most of my credits already done.”

Her mother, Valerie Bell, said looking back on her daughter’s hospitalization is almost more painful than when it happened.

“It was so surreal. It didn’t hit me until we had been home,” she said. “It’s hitting me now, actually.”

Though Carin still takes antiseizure medication, she said there are no limitations to any activities.

Bell works for Newcomer Funeral Home in Moraine and holds a crematory operator license. She’ll get an associate degree at Sinclair, transfer to Wright State University and then to the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science.

She said she loves her work in the funeral business. It was the study of egyptology that sparked her interest.

“It always gets an interesting response from people,” said Valerie of her daughter’s career choice.

The Bells live in Moraine, and Carin was presented a $500 scholarship from the Moraine Rotary Club on June 11.

Contact this

columnist

at (937) 696-2080 or williamgschmidt@

verizon.net.

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Carin is my daughter. We were so blessed that the surgeries were successful and the AVM was not mingled with brain tissue. We are so proud of her and are so happy she has found an occupation that she loves.

Her grandparents and I love her very much and are so proud of her.

Chris Butts
8:05 AM, 7/2/2009

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