Gastonia woman overcomes obstacles to earn high school diploma

Donny Wisor
June 29, 2008 - 10:47PM

GASTONIA - She wanted her picture on the living room wall, next to her older and younger sisters.

Brandy Wall wanted to have a cap and gown, holding her high school diploma in that picture.

After six years of hard work and labor and countless hours of reading and studying, Wall will have her picture next to her sisters' very soon.

This road wasn't an easy one for Brandy Wall. When she was 17, she was pregnant. During the pregnancy, a tumor developed on her brain stem and laid on her optic nerve.

Her mother, Becky Wall, said the tumor could have been there since her birth, but the pregnancy made it appear.

As a result, Brandy Wall, now 29, had to drop out of school during her junior year at Hunter Huss High School.

The tumor led to many complications, including memory and vision loss. She is also prone to seizures and has a balance disorder.

"I can make things out," Brandy Wall said about her vision.

She can read large print and get around her house, but when she goes to an unfamiliar place, she has to have someone guide her.

Eventually, she will go completely blind, her mother said.

Despite all the challenges she had to face, Brandy Wall still wanted her high school diploma.

So she enrolled in The Hadley School for the Blind in Illinois. For almost six years, the school would mail Brandy Wall her assignments and she would work on them and send them back.
It wasn't simple.

"I would have to go back in the book a lot," Brandy Wall said.

Her mind doesn't process information like everyone else's, Becky Wall said. She would forget information as she was studying.

But Brandy didn't give up. She worked throughout the day to make sure her work got done. If she didn't understand something, she called instructors at Hadley.

Her parents never did any work for her.

"Brandy absolutely did the work by herself," Becky Wall said. "If we did it for her, what kind of accomplishment would that be?"

Brandy Wall also wanted to be an inspiration for her 11-year-old daughter Aleigha.

"I'm glad she did it," said Aleigha.

She added it will inspire her to stay in school.

Brandy Wall officially graduated on June 11. Now she is waiting on one more piece of mail from Hadley.

"I can't wait to get that diploma," she said.
After that, she has a picture to pose for.

"I've always said ‘I'm going to be up on that wall,'" Brandy Wall said.

From: http://www.gastongazette.com/common/printer/view.php?db=gaston&id=22125