Ferguson senior: ‘When I’m bowling, I leave my disease at the door’
Last month, just 14 hours after getting released from Baptist Hospital, Caroline Findeisen was back at her second home: Bird Bowl.
Findeisen, a senior at Miami Ferguson High, bowled a 137 that day against Miami Gulliver Prep, which should be considered a minor miracle since she has Crohn’s disease. Among the many issues caused by Crohn’s is arthritis, which makes it kind of difficult to swing a 14-pound bowling ball effectively.
In addition, her hospital stay included doctors poking her with needles on both arms.
“I told them not to do it on my right arm because of bowling,” Findeisen said. “But they couldn’t get the IV to work.”
That’s typical of Findeisen, a 17-year-old Miami native with an unstoppable fighting spirit. No matter what she has been through she keeps smiling.
“She’s the happiness of our team,” Ferguson coach Marcela Del Rosario said.
Findeisen, the middle of John and Mariel’s three daughters, starting having sever stomach aches at age 6.
“The pain was crippling,” she said.
Doctors, however, didn’t diagnose her Crohn’s — not initially … and not for nearly a decade.
“We went through four doctors and four hospitals,” Mariel Findeisen said. “They would give her pain medication. They thought it was mental, even though her labs were out of whack.
“It was heartbreaking.”
One doctor, according to Caroline, even slapped her stomach, thinking she was faking.
“My mom went off on him,” Caroline said.
Finally, on August 9, 2017, Baptist Hospital’s Dr. Erik Hernandez ordered a colonoscopy and endoscopy, which showed that Caroline had Crohn’s as well as ulcers from her throat to her colon.
The diagnosis, while not necessarily good news, was a relief. Caroline finally knew what was wrong. Treatment could now begin.
“I call August 9 my ‘Crohniversary’,” Caroline joked.
Not that everything has been easy since 2017. Mariel has at times had to yell at doctors to get them to prescribe the medicine her daughter needs.
Plus, Caroline had to go to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 2017. The staff there helped get her off all the pain medications.
“They had given her so many pills, she was like a zombie. She had started hallucinating,” Mariel said. “It took three weeks before she returned to her normal state.
“Then they gave her physical therapy. She had been in a hospital bed for so long that she couldn’t walk. She needed a wheelchair and then a walker.”
Crohn’s is a difficult disease. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever and weight loss. Complications can include arthritis, skin rashes, anemia, eye inflammation and fatigue. She also gets cysts in her back and head.
In addition, patients with Crohn’s are of greater risk of colon and small-bowel cancer.
Caroline has protected her compromised immune system by wearing a mask — and this was long before COVID.
“I set the trend,” she joked.
Caroline has been in hospitals for so long that she missed six months of school and has had to catch up online.
Through it all, bowling has been her salvation.
When she got back from Philadelphia, she would often go to Bird Bowl while still using her walker to support her older sister, Adriana, who was a Ferguson bowler at the time.
“I show up because I love the sport, and I love my team,” Caroline said. “When I’m bowling, I leave my disease at the door.”
Caroline said met her boyfriend and her best buddies at Bird Bowl. She has also made friends with the entire Bird Bowl staff.
“You meet so many welcoming people while bowling,” Caroline said. “You don’t even have to be a good bowler. Even though we are all really competitive, we support each other.”
Caroline, who is set to graduate early due to her online course diligence, wants to become a pediatric gastroenterologist so she can correctly diagnose others.
“I’ve pushed through because I have so much more to give,” she said. “I don’t let anything get in the way of my priorities — family, friends and my health.”
And, of course, bowling.
This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 3:35 PM.