Alden Dyer has been a competitive swimmer since she was five years old. Until recently, she has been going to practice twice a day and has been a top swimmer for the UNC Wilmington women’s swim team. Last year, she held a record for the backstroke and continued to perform well in the individual medley races.

As her senior year continued, though, her luck began to change. After recovering from a shoulder injury, Dyer was progressing back toward the top of her game.

But one thing was off. A constant migraine haunted her over a period of a few weeks.

She continued to swim and sought help from a trainer as her headaches continued and vision became blurry. She went to an Urgent Care facility and was treated for a sinus infection. When the pain did not stop, she went to the UNCW Student Health Center, which directed her to go to the emergency room. The doctors decided to give her a CT scan of her head.

The scan revealed a 2.7 cm mass in her brain, which never would have been found if not for the pain her sinuses had been causing. She was admitted to the New Hanover Hospital and later transported—in a two and a half hour ambulance ride—to the UNC Hospital. As she and her family anxiously waited for what could be inside her brain, the doctors struggled to find an answer.

For five days, she lay in the hospital bed getting all sorts of blood tests and scans.

On the seventh day, the doctors agreed that nothing could be done but perform open brain surgery. It was revealed that she had a golf ball-sized tumor, called pilocytic astrocytoma, which took up about one-eighth of her brain.

“We spent a lot of time together praying for Alden, literally, because it really put everything else aside,” UNCW swimming and diving coach Dave Allen said. “There was nothing as important at that point than her personal well-being.”

Surgery was available in the next couple of days, but Dyer refused surgery until she could finish up the semester, but mostly to race one last time. Dumbfounded at her request, the doctors finally agreed to let her compete in the next meet, so she could end her season on her own terms.

“One more time,” Allen said. “She wanted to have her last meet. She talked her surgeons into allowing her to come back and swim at the Patriot Invitational, so she would have that experience…she did a great job.”

So, Dyer headed to Fairfax, Va. with the Seahawks to compete one last time. She was not trying to win, but instead bring closure to 17 years of swimming.

Dyer finished up her exams early and headed back to Chapel Hill to get the vital surgery. On Dec. 7, 2011, after almost five hours in surgery, the surgeons removed a benign tumor, which was perfectly placed in a nook of her brain, so that she never noticed it.

The surgeons had to cut through an inch of tissue to get to the tumor. She now has screws that hold her skull together and internal and external stiches. She was placed in the intensive care unit for five days and had three and a half weeks of bed rest. “It felt like I was going through an identity crisis,” Dyer said. Without swimming, school and the ability to do everyday tasks, her life was quickly brought to a halt.

Dyer is still recovering. “Walking to class was even a struggle; the only time over winter break that I walked was from my bed to the bathroom.” Feb. 4 was the first time she was able to fully submerge her head under water. Coincidentally, it was at a home swim meet against Campbell where the Seahawks won with a score of 124-78. She still supports her teammates at meets and is hoping to attend the conference meet in Virginia.

“If I didn’t have the sinus infection, I would have never found out I had a tumor. The doctors said it probably started growing 10 years ago,” Dyer said. “And if I had waited another three to four months without finding it, I wouldn’t be here…I consider myself lucky.”

Dyer also added how thankful she was to have such a supportive team, calling her teammates “a dysfunctional family, they always have my back.” Dyer and others are working on a fundraiser for the upcoming year to raise awareness and money to help with $40,000 in bills.

“I sit here today, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am that she was able to get through this,” Allen said. “It looks as though she’s going to have a full, successful life ahead of her.

“We miss her as a swimmer, but as a person, she’s a lot more important to us. What she has accomplished in this program, and the way she approached her surgery and whatnot, it was an inspiration for all of us.”

It has been a tremendously emotional experience, but Dyer remains grateful for everyone that has been with her. Although adjusting to life without swimming will be a struggle in itself, it is nothing compared to what her life could have been if she had never gotten the sinus infection.

 

Sports editor Tyler Heffernan contributed to this story.