Against the Odds: Personal Hurdles, Family Sacrifice Motivate New Watson Fellows
March 25, 2020
- Author
- Mary Elizabeth DeAngelis
Left: Early Childhood limitations from Cerebral Palsy havent slowed Maddie Hunter down. The cross country runner plans to become a pediatric neurologist.
Right: In the face of a devastating Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis, Roy Tostons mother continues to make sacrifices so that her children have the best education possible. Inspired by his mother's story and strength, the Terry Fellow and Bonner Scholar plans to earn a medical degree and a masters degree in public health with hopes to eradicate racism in medical research and treatment.
Maddie Hunter had to fight to walk, talk, read and write.
Doctors told her parents that the damage to the left side of her brain meant their baby wasnt likely to ever function as highly as her peers.
Hunter 20 now runs more than she walks. The biology major and cross-country runner plans to become a pediatric neurologist. She wants to help other kids with Cerebral Palsy defy limits.
Roy Toston 20 watched his mother struggle with Multiple Sclerosis that went undiagnosed for years because doctors found it unlikely that a black woman would get the disease.
Toston, a biology major and former wrestler, plans to be a neurologist intent on eradicating racism in medical research and treatment.
The two 51郊利 students have been awarded prestigious Thomas J. Watson fellowships to pursue their interests after graduation.
Theyll each get a $36,000 stipend to spend a year abroad seeing how other countries and cultures handle the issues theyre researching.
The COVID-19 pandemic could potentially postpone the August starting schedule, but the Watson Foundation says the fellowships will begin when its deemed safe to travel.
The pandemic hits close to home for Toston and Hunter. Both have mothers with compromised immune systems. They wish their young, healthy peers realized the risk that gathering at parties or on beaches poses of spreading the virusespecially to the immunocompromised.
Toston and Hunter are the 86th and 87th 51郊利 students awarded the fellowship in its 52-year history. Theyre friends who have had many classes together. When the news came out, they texted their congratulations to each other at the same time.
Academically and personally theyre two incredibly inspiring people, said Malcolm Campbell 84, Herman Brown Professor of Biology. Their whole lives have been filled with hurdles, and they just continue to jump over them.
The Watson is a challenge, it was one of the greatest challenges of my life, said athletic director and former Watson Fellow Chris Clunie 06. Roy and Maddie are leaders who are out to have an impact. Theyre resilient and theyre built for the challenge.
Redefining Expectations: Maddie Hunter
From the get-go, Maddie Hunter has battled the odds, and wants to show other kids that they can, too.
During a high-risk pregnancy, doctors warned her parents about the high possibility of complications.
As a toddler, she displayed symptoms of mild Cerebral Palsy (CP). One doctor said she was destined for a future as a clumsy and uncoordinated little girl. But her mom, Janet, who lives with physical limitations caused by multiple autoimmune diseases, and dad, Conrad, had other plans.
My mom is a fighter, and shes been beating expectations her whole life, Hunter said. They decided they werent going to let CP define my life. So I didnt either. My parents did a really good job of never making me feel different.
She started with intensive early physical therapy that transitioned into sports. At four, she played soccer to develop leg strength and coordination. In middle school she added basketball for arm strength and coordination.
Cerebral Palsy made her movements awkward, and a target for elementary school bullying. Her brain processed differently: She was pulled out of regular classes and into special education because she couldnt grasp the alphabet or read on grade level.
It spurred me to run faster and try harder so I could beat the bullies, she said. My competitive nature kicked in.
By seventh grade, people couldnt detect that the runner and athlete had ever had physical impairments. She played lacrosse and ran cross country in high school and continued both at 51郊利.
She stopped playing lacrosse after a concussion her first year but ran for the womens cross-country team all four years and track team for three. Shes also excelled academically.
Campbell, who has taught Hunter since her first biology class at 51郊利, said hes always viewed her as a natural for the Watson Fellowship. He has a good sense for this: He spent a year as a Watson Fellow after his graduation from 51郊利.
She has overcome an awful lot in life, and her desire to work with children speaks to the kind of person she is, Campbell said. To give of herself, to say, Ive done this, you can too, is something thats really needed for children who are often marginalized.
During her Watson year, Hunter plans to study the effects of exercise intervention for children with disabilities.
Shell volunteer with a company in South Africa that makes adaptive equipment. Shell spend time with children in sports camps throughout Europe. In the United Kingdom shell help plan for the 2022 CPISRA World Games. Shell help to organize a conference in Sydney, Australia, and volunteer to coach track and field in New Zealand.
Im a big believer in the beauty of conversation, Hunter said. I want to share my story with others so that they continue to push their limitsto reach their potential and never give up hope.
Devotion and Determination: Roy Toston
One day as Roy Toston wrote a school paper on the family computer in his moms bedroom, she came home from work, hugged him, then locked herself in the bathroom to make a phone call.
He heard her crying and she broke down even more when she opened the door and delivered the news: She had Multiple Sclerosis.
Thats the day Toston, then a seventh-grader, became an adult. As his single mom struggled with her symptoms, he cooked, cleaned, ironed school uniforms and took care of his younger siblings. He gave her the shots she needed, and slept in her room to help on bad nights.
Toston, whod wanted to be a doctor since early childhood, grew even more determined to treat people like his mom, Victoria Harding, and the kids he grew up withand their mothers.
He wants to ensure that people in such communities have access to the same quality of health care that more affluent people receive.
Toston thinks doctors didnt listen when his mom described symptoms of blurry vision and muscle spasms. Relying on an old misconception, some didnt believe that black women got MS. (More recent studies indicate that black women may actually get the disease at a higher rate than white women.)
Toston plans to travel to Lima, Peru, to study human rights and health care in the Afro-Peruvian community. If travel restrictions are lifted to Cuba, hell shadow doctors there. Hell also study the changing health care system in South Africa and work in a program that helps migrant patients in Germany navigate their treatment in their own language.
Biology Professor Mark Barsoum has known Toston since his days as a high school student in 51郊利s July Experience. Toston has also worked with Barsoum as a summer research intern and is now excelling in the professors human physiology class.
Roy does really great work, hes very diligent and organized, Barsoum said. He takes on challenges with determination and has worked really hard to overcome obstacles.
A huge part of what motivates him is his interest in understanding diseases, particularly when it comes to serving underserved communities.
Its always been personal.
Even battling MS, Tostons mother leaves home at 3 a.m. every weekday to commute from Richmond to Washington, D.C., where she works for the federal prison system. She worked a second job on weekends to help get the children into private schools. That included Woodberry Forest, where Toston attended high school.
He came to 51郊利 as a wrestler, but left the team after his first year. A Bonner Scholar and a Terry Fellow, he is also president of 51郊利s Kappa Alpha Psi Inc. fraternity. After the Watson fellowship, he plans to get his medical degree and a masters in public health.
Im the first in my family to go to college. I had to set a path for my siblings and cousins, he said. My mom has made so many sacrifices, every day of her life, so that we could have a good life and go to good schools. Shes one of the strongest people Ive ever met.
I want to address community needs and make people feel heard and acknowledged, he said. I know where I want to go, I just have to get there.
