Hooper defies medical odds, earns degree

BY HAELEY CARPENTER / Managing Editor

No one goes into the emergency room for a common cold expecting that they would walk out with a brain scan of an inoperable AVM but that is what happened to Jorden “J” Hooper in June of 2022.
 

An AVM is an arteriovenous malformation, which is an abnormal connection with arteries and veins in Jordens case, in her brain. The percentage of it rupturing is your age, so for Jorden she was diagnosed at 18 so she had a 18% every day of it rupturing.
 

“If it would have ruptured I would have immediately died,” Jorden said.
 

I had a government class with Jorden here at Tarleton State University the semester before she was diagnosed and we became fast friends. I was one of the first people she called when she got the news of her AVM.
 

The two options were radiation surgery or surgery to remove it. The AVM was in a sweet spot where it was too big to do one and too small to do the other. 
 

Jorden moved home over the summer so that she could go to all of her appointments and simply moved her schooling online. Moving home after finding her freedom at school was hard.
 

“It felt like I was taking a step back,” Jorden said.
 

Doctor appointment after doctor appointment led to the doctors eventually agreeing that they would start with radiation to hopefully shrink the AVM and then in two years (the time it would take for the radiation to fully work) reevaluate and maybe do the surgery to remove it. Radiation surgery, which is a non-invasive procedure that deposits a large amount of radiation at one time to a very precise area. 
 

“They were like ‘you either die or you do this’ so I was like ‘alright’. [Radiation] was such a new thing that it was kind of scary to listen about but we didn’t have another choice,” Jorden said.
 

Her parents were unsure and scared about the whole thing.
 

“[We were] freaked out because we had never heard of it before, we didn’t know what it was until we saw the neurosurgeon and learned more about it and was able to process it then,” Jorden’s mom Jenifer said.
 

In August of 2022, Jorden and her doctors started the preparation for the surgery. She had to get fitted for a type of face mask that they use during the procedure- I told her to bedazzle it but the doctors wouldn’t let her so she painted it instead.
 

The procedure went as planned and Jorden’s medical emergency turned into a waiting game.
 

The radiation proved to be affecting Jorden six months after the procedure. The negative side effects were kicking in; from fainting and seizures to hair falling out and memory issues. She was fatigued all the time.
 

She also had to go through over 75 tests including but not limited to X-rays, CT scans, CT angiography, MRIs, fMRIs, MRAs, EEGs and even a couple EMGs which was a type of electrocution.
 

As Jorden starred in her own medical show, I became a supporting character for her. As much as it might suck to admit, if it weren’t for the AVM, we might not be as close as we are today.
 

Since Jorden and I lived so far away, we talked all the time because we couldn’t hang out with each other. She leaned on me so she had an escape from being a patient.
 

From dating stories, book recommendations and school work, whether it was serious topics or trying to be the comic relief, we kept in touch as much as we could. 
 

Trying to make light of such a serious medical diagnosis is hard but, boy, did we do it. 
 

We named her AVM Becky.
 

It was easier to talk about it as if it was some crappy roommate or friend rather than a deadly threat on Jorden’s life. She would often text me that “Becky is being mean again” or “You’ll never guess what Becky did today.”
 

It made things easier for her to deal with while we waited because the doctors wanted to wait a full two years to let the radiation work.
 

“I use humor to cope because if you’re not laughing about it, then what else are you gonna do?” Jorden said.
 

Until more bad news came.
 

The radiation caused a stress aneurysm which was attached to the AVM and the artery feeding into it.
 

That was the thought, at least, until more brain scans showed it was actually two aneurysms which couldn’t be treated because Jorden wasn’t allowed to take blood thinners until Becky was gone.
 

In October 2023 she started losing function. It started with her left and dominant hand at only 18% function and then her whole arm started to go, then the whole left half of her body.
 

“My first thought when they told me that my brain was dying and that my hand was dying, my first thought was ‘don’t take my leg,’” Jorden said.
 

She started occupational therapy for two hours a day for 10 months straight with the hope that she might gain function back but the chances were slim to none.
 

Through all of the terrible days because of side effects from medications, the AVM, and both aneurysms, I still saw Jorden smile. She had started accepting that her life was just like this now and she tried to stay positive for all of it.
 

“At the beginning, the brain swelling made me numb, almost, I didn’t have any feelings,” Jorden said.
 

Every doctor’s appointment he went into where they gave her bad news, her response was  to keep doing what they needed her to do.
 

“They told me to jump and I did it, because what else can you do?” Jorden said. “I think with therapy I was more determined with that because it’s something you can physically see.”
 

As if going through all of that wasn’t enough, the whole time she was also a full time student and had a full time job.
 

Most students struggle with their course work and can only work so much before it gets to be too much but imagine doing it all when your brain is literally killing you.
 

“I really, really had to lower everything. Work less hours, do less hours [in school]. I was a full time patient; that was a full time job,” Jorden said.
 

Her parents had to help her with that.
 

“We had to step in and make her drop classes and take back hours at work,” Jenifer said.
 

On Feb. 23, 2024, I burst into tears in the middle of Caam’s because I got the text with a picture proving that Becky was finally dying.
 

But it wasn’t the end of it.
 

“As cliche as it sounds, I was partially relieved,” Jorden said. “But part of me was still mad because my arm and hand weren’t healing. It’s frustrating when your brain is healing but your body doesn’t.”
 

Jorden has regained almost full function of the left side of her body except in her hand, arm and face. She is done with therapy but still does exercises regularly and has two more scans until she is released.
 

The AVM (Becky) is on its way to dead and even though it took so much of her life away from her, Jorden didn’t let it take her spirit.
 

She graduates Tarleton in December 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in psychology and is now focusing on graduate school which she plans to start in the fall of 2025 at Tarleton.
 

After school, the goal is to become a counselor and therapist but in the long run she sees herself as a forensic psychologist. Her dream is to interview serial killers to get inside their heads.
 

“I don’t care about the behavior, I care about the ‘why.’ Why do people do the things they do?” Jorden said.
 

If Jorden can get through life balancing an AVM, two aneurysms, college and work, I have no doubt in my mind that she will achieve her dreams.
 

Jorden has loved her classes in her undergraduate but is enthusiastic about her next chapter.
 

“I’m excited [to graduate]. I’m surprised about how I didn’t get behind because my doctors told me so many times to stop school and that was the only time I didn’t listen to them. School was a really good distraction,” Jorden said.
 

Despite all she has been through, Jorden is graduating and her parents are beyond proud of her.
 

“[She is] one of the strongest people I know, and not just because she’s my daughter,” Jenifer said. “No matter what life throws at her, she takes the bull by its horns and leads it. We’re so proud. It’s really cool, she’s come a long way. She would have done it anyways but on top of dealing with medical stuff, she stil did it. She never missed a beat.”
 

Congratulations, J, I am so beyond proud of you.