Pua's Story
February 26, 2010

Hi, my name is Pua Hall and I am a jr. intl. elite gymnast at Texas Dreams. My 1 year anniversary at TD just passed and my 1 year anniversary of being an elite is about to happen!! It's a really big deal to me because back in November/December of 2008, while I was still at my old gym, something strange started happening to me and my body and I wasn't sure if I as ever going to do gymnastics full on again. The simplest things got hard. Even walking through a store was difficult, but training was even worse. It started to become hard to even run and do our daily warn-ups, the coaches were frustrated and so was I. I would have to stop because I literally could feel my heart pounding in my chest and I would get really dizzy.. A couple times I thought I was going to die because I couldn't breathe and I felt like there was a huge weight on my chest. Both my mom and I thought it was due to mono which was going around the gym and having just went through puberty and starting my cycle probably didn't help either, but my symptoms never went away. My mom took me in to the doctors and after telling them all my symptoms they could not figure it out and wanted to draw blood. I HATE NEEDLES btw. Anyways, I found out that I am severely anemic. My HGB level was 7.5 and a normal kid my age is supposed to have an HGB level of 12.5.

"Anemia is a red blood cell disorder in which there are too few red blood cells, and thus too little of the iron-containing protein called hemoglobin in the blood. Since hemoglobin is what enables the red cells to carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body, sub-par levels leave the body oxygen-starved." (My mom thought I should include this)

Anyhow, my doctor could not believe I was training and said that most people don't have the energy to get out of bed. Well, I'm a gymnast and if you stop training no one else will and you will get passed and left behind. I was told by the doctor to only do what my body allows, which I did, but that wasn't good enough in my coaches eyes. It was a really bad time. I literally would feel dizzy swinging bars and like I was going to pass out. But at my gym its either train hard or go home and I wanted to train. I kept a lot of my symptoms away from my mom cuz she would flip and not allow me to go to gym. The doctors put me on a strict vitamin schedule which helped so much!! The day after arriving in my new gym my mom and I were walking through the mall and she got a call from my doctor saying my blood levels have now reached a normal level (we took blood one more time to check my levels before I moved)!! ....we were so happy. It was a great way to start my new life.

Well, my story doesn't stop there though........ I grew a lot from the first experience so when my new "injury" arrived I was more prepared and not scared to talk about it. You know it would be easier i think to have something broken because you know there is an end in site, but for me I will have this for the rest of my life and the symptoms can reappear anytime, without any notice. Recently, I found out that I have shingles. I have never experienced more pain in my life. I knew what to expect from being anemic but these symptoms caught me off guard. I started developing rashes, which didn't scare me at first because I have excyma, but when they started to blister I got worried. I would feel shooting pains and sometimes burning sensations in my rash area that made it difficult to wear a leo. Lucky for me my host Dad is a doctor and was able to help me, however, there is no cure or magic medicine for shingles. AND on top of that I developed Postherpetic Neuralgia which comes from complications with shingles and causes the pain to stick around longer than usual and can cause severe itching an burning in the affected area. They said it usually takes 4-6 weeks to disappear but I am going on 2 and 1/2 months and am still in pain. The worst part for me is not being able to train.......especially on my worst event, bars. For over a month I could only do exercises. Under my underarm my lymph node swelled to the size of a tennis ball......I could barely lift my arm. I still hurts to lift it completely but it's getting better so I can manage. Some days are worse than others but I manage. I love gymnastics and don't want to stop this sport ever. I finally found my place in this sport and am so happy. I just hope that maybe by sharing my story it might help someone else to not give up. Giving up is easy, sticking with the sport you love through all the pain and tears is way harder but will all be worth it in the end. My new coaches taught me that.