Remaining positive in the face of adversity
Two years ago, Tayla Ann Cook was diagnosed with familial adenomatous polypsis (FAP), she talks to NGN about how she overcame debilitating pain and cancer to shine in her matric exams.
OVERCOMING adversity is something Tayla Ann Cook is no stranger to. She proved it by walking away with an A for maths literacy in her grade 12 exam written last year. In 2011 the Northlands’ Girls High School pupil began having debilitating stomach pains. “Everybody thought it was IBS or a spastic colon at the time. In 2012 I saw a specialist who performed a colonoscopy and they found cancerous polyps in my colon.”
Tayla was diagnosed with a version of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) which is characterized by cancerous polyps (small growth) in the large intestine and rectum. Unless the colon is removed, these polyps will become malignant (cancerous) and this was true for Tayla.
In August 2012 Tayla had a procedure to remove the rectal polyps and underwent a gastroscopy at the same time. The doctors found further polyps in the top of her stomach which were fortunately benign.
Following the complete removal of her colon in November 2012 Tayla pushed on. She was just weeks away from entering her matric year and her recovery began. She continued to experience pains through her grade 12 June exams and according to the 18-year-old there were times she could only study a day before. It also affected one of her life’s passions, dancing. Tayla is the fourth generation in the Cook family to become a dancer.
“Sometimes it was so sore I couldn’t move. And it was hard to sit out things at school and at dance class. People didn’t understand and thought it was simply just cramps,” she said.
But her family, doctor, her school and circle of friends (both at school and dance class), kept the matriculant positive in the face of adversity. In fact her teachers at NGHS have inspired Tayla to such an extent that she wants to become one.
“Over the year’s I’ve gone back and forth over what I want. I wanted to be a vet, then I wanted to own a bakery and now I want to be a teacher. When I was facing adversity my teachers were there and I hope to support and shape the future of someone like they did for me,” she said.
