She's Redefining Adversity -- Fife's Silvernail Enjoying Life Again After Overcoming Mysterious Illness

FIFE

Life slowly was being sucked out of Sarah Silvernail.

A year after powering Eisenhower High School of Yakima to the Class AAA state volleyball championship as a sophomore, Silvernail could hardly lift herself out of bed. She had no energy, a constant fever and headaches. She couldn't stand to be touched or to open her eyes to daylight. Trying to brush her long, blonde hair was torture, so she quit trying. After a week in the hospital, she had it cut off.

Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with the once-vibrant athlete who also was an all-state selection in basketball and a top-three finisher in the high jump and shot put.

Two months of testing left her frustrated and fearful.

"It was just hell," Silvernail said.

First it was thought to be measles, then mononucleosis. Silvernail's fit, 6-foot-2 frame dwindled from 180 pounds to 150. Depression set in, and the young woman who once seemingly had it all soon felt she had nothing to look forward to.

"I honestly didn't think I was going to live until about January," Silvernail said.

But, indeed, Silvernail is alive and well. She's nailing volleyballs to the floor again; only now, she is doing it at Fife High School, where her father, Chuck Silvernail, is principal. He and Sarah's mother were divorced when Sarah was a year old.

Because of her lengthy illness, eventually diagnosed at Children's Hospital's adolescent clinic as chronic fatigue immune

deficiency syndrome, Sarah fell far behind academically. The chances of her graduating on schedule at Eisenhower appeared slim.

Sarah, who had always lived with her mom, never really had the opportunity to know her father well. But when she began making regular trips to the clinic beginning in February, the two became closer.

"We started talking about the things we'd never had the chance to - normal fathers and daughters do, but we'd never had the chance," Sarah said. "Out of curiosity, I asked him if it would be an option for me to come and live with him."

Chuck Silvernail and his wife, Connie, agreed it might be academically best for Sarah. Two weeks ago, after attending summer school in Yakima, Sarah made the move - a difficult one in many ways.

"My mom and I have a great relationship," Sarah said. "Over the last year, she's been my best friend. There's no way I could have gotten by without her . . . We decided it would be best for me. It was very hard for me to move for my senior year, but I had to do it. And it's a great opportunity for me to get away from everyone who knew every step of what I'd been through."

Her medical ups and downs were regularly chronicled in the Yakima Herald-Republic. She was named the city's athlete of the year for 1991 by a Yakima booster club for her achievements as a sophomore. Publicly accepting the award in January was one of her most difficult tasks, she said.

"A lot of people hadn't seen me, and it (the presentation) was on television. I had to give a speech," Silvernail said. "I didn't feel like an athlete. I didn't feel I deserved it. I had all the (newspaper) clippings on my wall from the year before, and it looked like a dream to me. I felt like a different person in a different life."

Life couldn't have been much better her sophomore year. After leading Eisenhower to the volleyball title, she helped the Cadets to their first appearance in the state basketball tournament. They reached the semifinals before losing by a point to eventual champion Auburn, then lost their consolation game by three to Shorewood to finish sixth. Silvernail led the tournament in scoring (21.5 points per game) and was second in rebounding (12.8). She was an all-tournament choice, and even drew some MVP consideration.

In track, Silvernail missed the state shot-put title by 1 1/2 inches, finishing second, and tied for third in the high jump. She spent the summer playing two-on-two volleyball tournaments and training to become a heptathlete, along with a little basketball.

The whirlwind year eventually took its toll.

"I was just going 100 miles an hour all the time," Silvernail said. "I went into the (1991) volleyball season nationally ranked, and was being highly recruited. My grades started slipping. I was bogged down with a lot of pressure. I think I was conditioning so hard, and eventually I just collapsed."

She first became sick two weeks before the district volleyball tournament. She was off from school, but came back to play at district at the request of her coach. Eisenhower finished third and missed a return trip to state.

The following weekend, her body temperature shot up to 104, she collapsed and was taken to the hospital emergency room. Because she was blotchy, doctors thought she might have the measles. She went home, but couldn't eat and vomited frequently. This time, she landed in intensive care.

The next couple of months were a blur. A couple of times, she thought she felt well enough to play basketball, but soon would suffer setbacks.

"Every time I was feeling good, I had to take advantage of it," she said.

She would go to school for a few hours, then sleep 16 - although she never enjoyed a complete, restful sleep. In April, doctors at the clinic came up with the chronic-fatigue diagnosis. Silvernail was happy to finally have a name attached to her illness.

"At that point I wanted it to be anything, because I was sick of seeing tests come back negative," she said. "It was driving me up the wall."

In May, doctors wanted Silvernail to try an anti-depressant drug, Prozac.

"I was very depressed," she said. "I isolated myself. I didn't think I was ever going to get well. I was completely negative."

Silvernail called Prozac "the drug everybody has a different opinion on." She read about the side effects, such as insomnia and possible eating disorders, then decided to give it a try. For two weeks she got the kind of sleep she'd been craving. Her headaches disappeared. Then she took herself off the drug.

"If I was going to get better, I wanted to know it was because I was getting better, not because of some drug - and the second I got off it I was going to go back to where I'd been," she said.

By June, she was well on the road back. She played some two-on-two volleyball, her first love, and was able to compete for the Fife volleyball and basketball teams in a couple of tournaments.

Today, Silvernail rates herself at 99 percent - only because she's so out of shape, by her standards. Once able to dunk a tennis ball, she has yet to totally regain her vertical leap, but already she is bringing the Fife volleyball team to another level.

"I thought we would be a good team without Sarah," Coach Jan Kirk said. "Having Sarah is just another added dimension."

She said Silvernail has fit in well with the team and always is willing to help the other players.

"The biggest thing she does for us is that a picture is worth a thousand words," Kirk said. "You can explain something to kids over and over, but if they can see it, it clicks with them."

New teammate Sara Copps, her primary setter, said she is "amazed" at Silvernail's ability.

College recruiters are impressed, too. Last week, coaches from Washington and Arizona visited her home. Silvernail also is considering Washington State, Oregon and Notre Dame, where her boyfriend, Ryan Leahy of Eisenhower, is a sophomore tackle on the football team.

Silvernail also will be a big addition to the Fife basketball team, which finished ninth at the Class AA state tournament last season. The Trojans return 11 of 12 players, but the lone loss was a big one - leading scorer Tina Vinyard, now at Eastern Washington University.

Silvernail said she has chosen to pursue volleyball over basketball because her sister Christine plays basketball. Christine Silvernail also played volleyball at West Valley High of Yakima - her team beat Kennedy for the Class AA state title in 1989 - but excelled at basketball, which she now plays at Santa Clara University.

Sarah said she learned a lot from her ordeal.

"I can't let things get to me," she said. "I've got to keep everything in perspective. I have to take things as they come and not put so much pressure on myself . . . My perspective on things is completely different now. My motto in life has always been `opportunity through adversity.' That couldn't fit my situation any better."

In fact, she had to redefine the word `adversity' over the past year.

"Before this, adversity to me was losing to Auburn (at state) in the last seconds of the game."