In Good Shape
Reviewed by Poonam Sachdev on February 19, 2022
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
HALEY LISENBA: Growing up,
I was very active.
Just a complete normal kid
growing up, normal teenager.
I did competitive cheerleading
starting in like third grade.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The summer before my senior year of high school, I-- right before I went to cheerleading camp, I just became very, very tired. I felt fatigued. My face was really puffy.
TONYA LISENBA: We took her to the doctor. He thought maybe it was mono or something like that. But as the summer progressed, her symptoms got worse.
HALEY LISENBA: I just started having this stiffness that I've never felt before. I couldn't do the skills that I was always able to do. It hurt me to do the skills that I could do when I was in third grade. I couldn't do those at 18 years
old. TONYA LISENBA: I would literally sleep with her every night because she had a fever. Every night.
HALEY LISENBA: I missed, like, 73 days of school that year-- of my senior year. I didn't know what was happening. I felt absolutely terrible.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I was mad. I didn't know what was happening because the doctors couldn't tell me what I had or how we could fix it. I felt like my future was gone because all I wanted was to be a college cheerleader. And I knew that I couldn't do that anymore.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
TONYA LISENBA: Every specialist knew there's something wrong. But they couldn't just quite come up with a definitive diagnosis. It was almost a relief to finally come up with a diagnosis. Now, we have a plan. You know she can begin to go back to more normal life.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
HALEY LISENBA: Once I was diagnosed, I started feeling pretty normal again after my medication and everything. So for about four months, everything was back to normal. You know, my body felt better. And then, all of a sudden, I woke up to go take my final exams for my senior year, and I couldn't hear out of my left ear. And it turns out that I had lost complete hearing in my ear. And they could not reverse it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I didn't care anymore. I just went to food for comfort. That's all I wanted to do was just stay in my bed and eat. I let my grades go. I didn't care about that anymore. I just drank and ate terribly to make myself feel better.
My junior year of college, one of my best friends took me to the gym with her. You know, I just went for fun. I was, like, yeah, I'll give this a try. Why not? I went and I just got hooked. I was like, wow. Like, I feel really good after this. My joints weren't as stiff. I woke up. I felt like a better person. And from that moment on, like, I wanted to go every single day.
And I started watching like YouTube videos on competitors. I was like, this is awesome. But I don't think I'll ever be able to do this. There's no way, not with RA. Regardless, I reached out to a coach. Four months later, I was on stage.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
When I'm in the gym, I kind of forget that I even have RA. I just feel like I'm, you know, a normal person working out. And I can feel like a normal active person again.
TONYA LISENBA: I've never experienced something like that before where someone had the motivation and the mindset that they were going to do whatever it takes to pursue their dream. And she just amazes me every day.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I know she doesn't feel good most days. But I think that Haley shows that you can pursue your dreams and you cannot let it limit yourself.
HALEY LISENBA: No matter what, you know, what you have going on in your life, like, you can do things that you don't think you're capable of.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The summer before my senior year of high school, I-- right before I went to cheerleading camp, I just became very, very tired. I felt fatigued. My face was really puffy.
TONYA LISENBA: We took her to the doctor. He thought maybe it was mono or something like that. But as the summer progressed, her symptoms got worse.
HALEY LISENBA: I just started having this stiffness that I've never felt before. I couldn't do the skills that I was always able to do. It hurt me to do the skills that I could do when I was in third grade. I couldn't do those at 18 years
old. TONYA LISENBA: I would literally sleep with her every night because she had a fever. Every night.
HALEY LISENBA: I missed, like, 73 days of school that year-- of my senior year. I didn't know what was happening. I felt absolutely terrible.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I was mad. I didn't know what was happening because the doctors couldn't tell me what I had or how we could fix it. I felt like my future was gone because all I wanted was to be a college cheerleader. And I knew that I couldn't do that anymore.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
TONYA LISENBA: Every specialist knew there's something wrong. But they couldn't just quite come up with a definitive diagnosis. It was almost a relief to finally come up with a diagnosis. Now, we have a plan. You know she can begin to go back to more normal life.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
HALEY LISENBA: Once I was diagnosed, I started feeling pretty normal again after my medication and everything. So for about four months, everything was back to normal. You know, my body felt better. And then, all of a sudden, I woke up to go take my final exams for my senior year, and I couldn't hear out of my left ear. And it turns out that I had lost complete hearing in my ear. And they could not reverse it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I didn't care anymore. I just went to food for comfort. That's all I wanted to do was just stay in my bed and eat. I let my grades go. I didn't care about that anymore. I just drank and ate terribly to make myself feel better.
My junior year of college, one of my best friends took me to the gym with her. You know, I just went for fun. I was, like, yeah, I'll give this a try. Why not? I went and I just got hooked. I was like, wow. Like, I feel really good after this. My joints weren't as stiff. I woke up. I felt like a better person. And from that moment on, like, I wanted to go every single day.
And I started watching like YouTube videos on competitors. I was like, this is awesome. But I don't think I'll ever be able to do this. There's no way, not with RA. Regardless, I reached out to a coach. Four months later, I was on stage.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
When I'm in the gym, I kind of forget that I even have RA. I just feel like I'm, you know, a normal person working out. And I can feel like a normal active person again.
TONYA LISENBA: I've never experienced something like that before where someone had the motivation and the mindset that they were going to do whatever it takes to pursue their dream. And she just amazes me every day.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I know she doesn't feel good most days. But I think that Haley shows that you can pursue your dreams and you cannot let it limit yourself.
HALEY LISENBA: No matter what, you know, what you have going on in your life, like, you can do things that you don't think you're capable of.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
