A Foggy Future

He doesn’t know exactly what’s wrong. His heart occasionally skips a beat, or beats once too many or beats abnormally fast for periods of time. The failure of his heart to regulate itself gives freshman Mekhi Brooks’ chest and limb pain, dizziness, tunnel vision and serious fatigue. This isn’t always clear, as the symptoms come in waves, so at one point in the week, Mekhi could be functioning well, while in another time of the week, he would seriously struggle to stay awake in class or even comprehend the lesson being taught. He is affected not only during school, too, as he faces the same symptoms at home, making it hard to catch up on homework he didn’t get finished during class.

“It’s kind of frustrating, because I will try to do my work and everything, but it’ll either just come out bad, or I just flat out can’t do it,” Mekhi said. “But then, I don’t want to use [my condition] as an excuse. But then, I just can’t get anything done. So, it’s frustrating.”

For now, there is nothing to help Mekhi keep up with his work, either, as he is currently not diagnosed, therefore not being treated. This condition first began affecting Mekhi in the seventh grade, yet there has not been a solution. According to the Brooks family, at his age, doctors are holding off on diagnoses, as they do not know what is causing his episodes and do not know if it will fix itself over time as Mekhi finishes growing. For all the that the doctors know, it could be anything from a dietary issue, to an overactive heart, to a nervous system issue. Another issue is that since he was in a better wave of health than usual during the last time his heart was monitored, the doctors assumed that he had miraculously healed, despite them knowing that he still faces these symptoms. Because of this, Mekhi has not been given any treatment, medication, or direction.

“It’s very frustrating because when he doesn’t have a diagnosis, there’s nothing we can do for him at this point,” Mekhi’s mother Sarah Brooks said. “They just said that it’s a common thing for teenage boys to have these problems when they’re taller and lean, that they can have issues with blood pressure and things along those lines. But his blood pressure’s been fine. We’ve been monitoring it at home and it’s been fine. So I think, all in all, they really don’t know what it is, but it is definitely something that affects him in his day to day life. Then people tend to disregard it sometimes because ‘Well, you don’t have a diagnosis with it, so, you’re fine.’”

Mekhi participates in drama, choir and FHN’s swim team. However, there are some stressors that put these activities at risk. Continuing to do extensive physical activity leaves Mekhi with the possibility of fainting. The fatigue can restrict attendance and grades as well, which may close some opportunities in those extracurriculars. However, with proper treatment, which could possibly include medication, a high-salt diet and therapy, Mekhi will able to enjoy these activities again in the possible future.

“I’m hoping that I get a for-sure diagnosis [after future appointments] and that they have a treatment so that I can get better and start getting on top of my schoolwork again,” Mekhi said. ”I just hope they find a way to make me better so that I can function normally again. But I think as of now, all I can do is wait and it’ll either go away on its own or I’ll be stuck with it.”