Tow #1: Article: "A Young Gymnast's Body Is Mysteriously Transformed" by Lisa Sanders, M.D.

Lisa Sanders is a professor at Yale School of Medicine and has been writing a column called Diagnosis for the New York Times since 2002. In this column, she writes about people with a serious illness that is difficult to be solved. In this article, she wrote about a fifteen year-old gymnast whose body suddenly changed. Overnight, her stomach protruded to the size of a woman who is six months pregnant, preventing her from doing gymnastics. The young girl saw many doctors, but all of them couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Some even said that it was all in her head and put the gymnast on antidepressants. That was the part of the article that bothered me the most. When it comes to children and teenagers, many adults dismiss what they are saying and assume it is a lie. Sanders, a former doctor, felt ashamed that other doctors would think the gymnast was lying, so she included that moment in her article. When the gymnast was in her worst pain, she begged the doctor, "cut me open and take it all out" because "anything is better than this." Sanders included this quote in her article to appeal to pathos and hopefully make parents feel sympathy towards this child. The reason why Sanders wrote about this case was not only to inform people about this rare disease, but also to encourage parents to believe their child when they say they are in pain or sick and to never give up on finding a diagnosis. Eventually a gastroenterologist named Rayna Gothe figured out that the involuntary muscles in her digestive system were uncoordinated and working incorrectly. The gymnast was able to return to gymnastics after a few weeks of physical therapy. By adding this happy ending to the story, I think that Sanders achieved her purpose. She showed that even some of the most difficult cases can still be solved and cured, so a person should never give up.