Meder rejoins Hawks after brain surgery

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Woodland girls basketball coach Jess Moffo, left, sits with sophomore guard Danie Meder, who recently returned to the team after brain surgery in January to try to locate the source of her epileptic seizures. –STEVE BARLOW/REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

BEACON FALLS — Gina Meder was sitting in a waiting room at Yale-New Haven Hospital when a doctor walked in with some CT scan results and a couple of questions.

Pointing to Gina’s daughter, Danie, then 5, he asked, “Can she walk?”

“Yes,” replied Meder, puzzled by the query.

An incredulous look on his face, the doctor asked a follow-up: “And she can talk?”

“Yes,” Meder repeated.

“Amazing,” the doctor said.

Danie Meder, now 15, was born missing more than one-third of her brain. She lacks one-half of her left hemisphere, which usually controls logic and speech, and 20 percent of her right hemisphere, which usually controls creativity and the arts. The left side of the brain normally controls the right side of the body and vice-versa.

Yet her brain has adjusted, taught itself new skills, and the 5-foot-3 sophomore at Woodland High now plays soccer and basketball for the Hawks.

Yes, she is amazing.

Born in China, Danie was adopted as a baby by George and Gina Meder of Beacons Falls, who didn’t realize their daughter’s condition until she had an epileptic seizure at the age of 5, which prompted the visit to Yale-New Haven.

As she has gotten older, the seizures have worsened. Sometimes, they last minutes; sometimes they last an hour, or even longer.

“She sometimes has seizures all night,” Gina said, “then she gets up in the morning and goes to school.”

But the Meders have not held their daughter back because of this. She began playing youth soccer at age 6 and youth basketball at 8. When Danie became a freshman at Woodland, her parents asked soccer coach Cait Witham and basketball coach Jessica Moffo if she could be on the high school teams.

Moffo said there was “no way” they could possibly say no, and Danie now plays guard for the Woodland junior varsity basketball squad and goalie for the JV soccer team.

“Our motto is ‘Team is family.’ She is part of our family and we’re going to be there for her. If we can put a smile on her face, then we’ve done our part,” Moffo said.

With the seizures continuing to worsen, Danie returned to Yale-New Haven on Jan. 9 for eight hours of surgery. A robotic arm, nicknamed “Rosa” and programmed by neurologists, drilled 12 holes in her skull and implanted electrodes to try to locate the source of the seizures.

Over the next six days, the sensors enabled doctors to map her brain, determining which parts of it control certain functions. Another operation Jan. 15 removed the sensors. The hope is that doctors can figure out how to repair the part of the brain causing the seizures, while not impairing Danie’s speech and motor skills.

She left the hospital Jan. 18 and attended the Hawks’ game the next night against WCA. Before the opening tip, teammates escorted her to midcourt, where she received an ovation from the fans.

Danie returned to school and practice in late January, and got in near the end of the Hawks’ JV game against Holy Cross last week.

Last Friday’s home game against Watertown was designated as a fundraiser to benefit epilepsy awareness.

“I want the girls on the team to know there’s more to life than sports,” said Moffo, who, along with junior guard Hana Bojka, visited Danie in the hospital and brought her a gift basket from the team.

“It was nice. It was a lot of stuff, a lot of candy,” remarked Danie, who said she missed being on the team while in the hospital.

A special needs student, Danie has a paraprofessional who assists her during the school day, and her mother attends practices in case there are any issues. If Danie has a seizure, she is simply taken off the court to one side. When she’s ready to return, she goes back in, her mom explained.

“No kid should have to go through what she does,” Moffo said. “And in my opinion, her parents are the parents of the decade.”

“The coaches have been tremendous her whole life. They are so good to her,” Gina said. “I would’ve quit a long time ago. Danie never has. She loves this. She has always wanted to play.”