|
Sunday in Depth
Andrew Ledoux, a graduating senior at Seekonk High School, overcame a stroke and surgery, which took place during the summer of 2007. Ledoux dressed as Superman - Clark Kent for a recent superhero day at the school. (Staff photo by Mike George)
BY JOSEPH S. SIEGEL FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE
SEEKONK - Seekonk High School senior Andrew Ledoux survived the worst ordeal of his young life last summer, when a stroke left him paralyzed on one side of his body.
While working at a local pizzeria, Andrew experienced a loss of feeling in his leg. A week later, he was at his job when he felt numbness in his arm.
"My whole left side was numb, and then I knew something was wrong," Andrew recalled.
Andrew's parents rushed him to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, where they learned he had suffered a stroke. Not long after, he suffered two more strokes and was kept in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit, where he would remain for two months.
"They don't know how this happened, but all they knew is they had to fix it," Andrew said of his doctors.
Surgeons operated on Andrew, performing a right carotid artery bypass. Months of intense physical therapy followed before he was able to make a full recovery.
"It really wasn't that bad being there for me," Andrew said of his time at Hasbro. "It was just hard on my parents, and on my friends that saw me in there."
NORTON
Norton High School senior Patrick Jenkins loves sports, especially baseball - so much so that his mother Michele says, "he can tell you anything you wanted to know about them."
But a congenital heart defect keeps Patrick on the sidelines.
NORTH ATTLEBORO
Nicole Caron's vision of the future is bright - even when her multiple sclerosis flare-ups cause her eyesight to blur.
ATTLEBORO
When Pagna Eam and her sister emigrated to the United States from their native Cambodia in 1994, she knew less than half a dozen words of English.
ATTLEBORO
Some cold facts hit John Bourgault Jr. toward the end of his four years at Coelho Middle School. The Cs and Ds he was making weren't good enough to get into Bristol County Agricultural High School.
But that didn't stop him - it motivated him.
ATTLEBORO
When Danica Aldrich and her parents were looking for a high school for her to attend four years ago, they wanted to find a place that would help her when she needed it, but would not pamper her so she felt patronized.
MANSFIELD
"My life could be on Oprah," Mansfield High School senior Krystal Orrell said with a wry smile as she ticked off the challenges she faced growing up.
WRENTHAM
Christine Dowd has had to deal with far more than your average graduating senior.
Christine, 17, who will receive her diploma from King Philip Regional High School today, lost both her parents but has managed to make it through her school years in admirable fashion.
NORTH ATTLEBORO
David Tarrant always knew what he wanted.
Long fascinated by computers, his desire to one day become a video game designer lead him to Tri-County Regional TechnicalVocational High School and its computer information systems program.
| 
