‘ Living Li ke LewLew’ UNC freshman LewLew Whayne makes the most of her first year at Carolina while continuing to live with the aftereffects of two rare disorders By Hannah Lee
just needed to see a psychologist – it was her brain, not her body. But her mother, Laura Whayne, kept pushing back against that theory and finally nailed the correct diagnosis with the help of Wake Forest Baptist Health’s Dr. John Petty, who oversaw LewLew’s second surgery in February 2019 to cure SMAS for good. Sure, she could finally eat a banana or hold down a sip of water, but the pain got increasingly worse. Laura and LewLew eventually presumed it was MALS. MALS is more commonly diagnosed than SMAS, as ewLew Whayne is finally free the Whaynes discovered; they have from SMAS and MALS after years of helped some 120 other young women being poked and prodded multiple with the same mystery ailments find times a day by unfamiliar faces. Her a diagnosis faster thanks to their final surgery in March 2020 had the Facebook group and word-of-mouth. junior Erin DeCicco (left) was correctly diagnosed most gruesome recovery – she vomited UNC “The majority of the girls we with MALS in March 2020 with the help of LewLew up to six liters a day – but she can go helped,” Laura says, “[had] MALS. Whayne (right) and her mom, Laura Whayne. Erin had open abdominal surgery with Dr. John Petty in June to sleep now knowing that her body is And MALS is just really painful. It 2020. Erin and LewLew met in person for the first time filled with nutrients. starts to rival pancreatic cancer ... I at The Casual Pint in March 2021. Back in March 2019, LewLew told believe LewLew had MALS the whole Chapel Hill Magazine that after years of time [she had SMAS].” surgeries and suffering symptoms, she was “ready to recover.” If only By summer 2019, it was like the Whaynes were playing the same things had gone so smoothly. Doctors’ appointments became more game all over again: attempting to convince doctors of LewLew’s regular than her eating schedule. She got a crash course in remote lingering condition; this time, that SMAS can coincide with MALS. school lessons before the pandemic, spending her entire junior year But there was no medical documentation to prove their theory. It took at East Chapel Hill High School learning at home. Doctors told nearly eight months to persuade Dr. Petty to conduct a mesenteric LewLew she had rumination syndrome, an eating disorder, or that she duplex ultrasound on LewLew in February 2020 – a noninvasive In May 2018, LewLew Whayne was diagnosed with the rarest form of superior mesenteric artery syndrome (SMAS) – a disorder where the duodenum gets compressed, blocking food from going into the stomach. More than a year and a half later, she was diagnosed with the rarest form of median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS), which shows the same symptoms as SMAS, but the celiac artery is compressed instead.
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chapelhillmagazine.com
April 2021