On a shiny April afternoon, Madison Harriet Meyer lay slowly dying in her bed room from a uncommon and debilitating dysfunction. Her respiration was shallow and the muscular tissues of her slender 65 pound physique had been barely sturdy sufficient for her to perk up on the mattress.
But one way or the other, by means of sheer pressure of will, 17-year-old Madison mustered the energy to vary into a glittery blue costume and attend what can be her final promenade. Beneath the intense lights of a highschool gymnasium, Madison rolled throughout the dance ground in her wheelchair as pals and classmates cheered her sudden arrival.
Two months later, on June 8, Madison, nicknamed Madi, succumbed to respiratory failure at her household’s Farmington dwelling after spending most of her younger life battling a particularly uncommon dysfunction, ataxia telangiectasia, or AT, which assaults the physique, inflicting a progressive lack of muscle management and severely weakening the immune system.
“Some individuals let their incapacity outline them and quit, however Madi by no means did,” mentioned her grandmother, Patricia Fenstermacher. “She squeezed each ounce of life out of that sick little physique.”
Ashley Ellefson, Madison’s mom, had an unsettling feeling that one thing was unsuitable along with her daughter when, at 6 months, she was unable to perk up with out help. When she began to stroll, she staggered and swayed unsteadily.
Ellefson had by no means heard of ataxia telangiectasia when docs recognized Madison with the weird dysfunction at age 3. She was certainly one of 500 individuals in the US with the dysfunction. At age 8, Madison had to make use of a wheelchair to get round. Docs advised her household that she most likely wouldn’t survive previous her early teenagers.
Nevertheless, Madison repeatedly defied expectations. She went deer looking with a crossbow along with her father, who pushed her on an tailored bicycle. She ran a 5K at Disney World and went on lengthy boat rides along with her grandparents. She additionally attended common courses at Farmington Excessive College, usually staying when the nurses had been frightened she was too weak to proceed.
“In my a number of years [of teaching]I’ve by no means met a pupil who was so excited to return day by day,” recalled Heidi Yager, a trainer on the faculty.
As soon as, in fourth grade, a boy approached Madison within the cafeteria and began teasing her about her incapacity. Madison stared into the boy’s eyes and mentioned slowly, “I will eat you for lunch!” her grandmother mentioned, laughing.
For Ellefson, a permanent picture of Madison’s dogged dedication was her empty wheelchair on the turf at Farmington Excessive soccer video games. On recreation nights, Madison did not want the chair as a result of she was too busy being lifted into the air by her fellow cheerleaders, a lot to the delight of screaming followers.
“Madi by no means requested why she could not stroll or why she had AT,” Ellefson mentioned. “She was happy with who she was.”
However as Madison grew older, the dysfunction continued to assault her immune system, leaving her susceptible to numerous critical diseases. Simply earlier than the New 12 months of 2020, she was recognized with lymphoma, a type of most cancers. She survived a number of months of chemotherapy, however she weakened and contracted pneumonia final fall.
At her wake, Madison’s physique was laid in an open casket, dressed within the orange and black outfit she wore whereas cheering on the Farmington Excessive College Tigers. Pom poms and her worn bible had been positioned underneath her crossed arms.
Along with her mom, Madison is survived by her sister, Paisley, 9 years outdated; her father, Dan Meyer of New Prague; and her grandparents, Patricia and Roy Fenstermacher of Lake Metropolis, Minnesota, and Deb and Bruce Ellefson of Owatonna, Minnesota.