[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 116 (Wednesday, July 11, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H6099-H6100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
JULIA RUELLE AND THE BOUNDARY WATERS
(Mr. PAULSEN asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, last year, 16-year-old Julia Ruelle of
Minnetonka, Minnesota, started having headaches and exhaustion. A
sophomore at Minnetonka High School, she was diagnosed with a very rare
brain tumor.
Julia grew up loving the outdoors, and as she began her treatment,
she would often think about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area where her
family vacationed for years.
Today, Julia is recovering and is back to outdoor physical activity.
She recently won an essay contest on why the Boundary Waters are so
important and why it matters to her--winning a prize of a parent-free
weekend canoeing in the Boundary Waters wilderness.
Julia, looking strong and healthy, just visited my office last month
to advocate for protecting the Boundary Waters. She is a brave girl,
and she is a perfect example of what this national treasure means to
Minnesota and what it means to our country.
I include in the Record a copy of her essay.
2018 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Essay Contest
(Winning Essay by Julia Ruelle, Minnetonka, Minn.)
It's the start of the school year: everyone is sullen for
being forced to sit still all day and teachers try in vain to
pull us out of our school-induced slumber with a myriad of
get-to-know-you activities. As I fill out yet another form
with questions I am tired of answering, I come to the
question asking me to list my favorite activities. I pause
for a moment, wondering which activities to include this
time: running, cross country skiing, downhill skiing,
sledding, ice skating, kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding,
camping, gardening, walking, hiking, biking, hammocking, or
exploring. As a shortcut and
[[Page H6100]]
with a melancholy glance at the sun shining through the
window, I settle with writing, ``being outside''.
Though such get-to-know-you forms are rarely very honest,
one fact always holds true to me: I love being outside. In
the summer, a typical day usually starts with running with
the cross country team as the sun rises, paddling with a
friend in the afternoon, and an evening walk with Rio, our
faithful seven year old rescue dog, around a small lake of
the over 10,000 our state is known for. For the past 5 years,
Rio and my family have been lucky to have a change in scenery
to the beautiful, pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness for about four days each summer. These days are
when I feel most connected to my soul and surroundings and
most at home, with no social media or material concerns to
distract me from the purity of the air in my lungs, dirt
beneath my feet, and the sounds of birds, water, and all
things natural in my ears. My love for these lands has caused
me to be involved with the Campaign to Save the Boundary
Waters movement, regularly donating and wearing the logo on
shirts, stickers, and pins as frequently as possible. All my
classmates know of this passion of mine, as I take any
opportunity to educate my peers about the threat the proposed
Twin Metals mine poses to the pristine waters so unique to
the Boundary Waters and the many watersheds it affects.
Though Jerry Vandiver, a country singer with an album or
two about the Boundary Waters area, sings that ``winter is
for . . . pull[ing] out the map'' and ``plan[ning] a new
route'' while keeping close to the warmth of the fireplace,
to me, the snow and sub-zero temperatures of Minnesota
winters make venturing outside even more exciting! I joined
the cross country ski team last year and immediately
regretted not having tried it earlier. Skiing taught me to
love winter and pray for more snow, instead of begrudging it.
Though I grew up loving to ice skate at the park across the
street, learning to ski ignited a desire to be outside
everyday, even when the cold was biting.
Unfortunately, this winter has been a little different.
Around Thanksgiving, I started experiencing exhaustion,
headaches, and nausea at rates I had never before had to
withstand. As doctors didn't perceive any viruses to be
concerned about, we wrote it off as migraines and I continued
to participate in life as usual, going to school and ski
practices everyday. However, after trying to fight through it
for two weeks, I ended up in Urgent Care one night and
scheduled an appointment with my doctor three days later.
During those three days, I slept pretty much all day and
barely ate, thanks to debilitating headaches and nausea.
Arriving at the doctor's appointment, I threw up in the
waiting room and the nurses deemed my low body temperature
and slow heart rate alarming enough to rush me to the
emergency room in an ambulance. At the end of that day, they
still didn't have any answers as to what was causing it all.
However, the next day, my doctor suggested getting an MRI and
I squeezed into their last slot of the day. Halfway through
the MRI, my parents were rushed into a special room and my
doctors got in contact with the radiologist and a
neurologist. All in all, the verdict was that there was a
mass in my brain causing pressure build up, also known as
hydrocephalus. I required an endoscopic third
ventriculostomy, which is essentially a tube put into my head
to allow the fluids to flow, and a biopsy to find out what it
was. So there I was, getting brain surgery, which is
definitely not the curveball most expect during sophomore
year. The biopsy revealed that I had a rare brain tumor
called a germinoma, luckily with a high cure rate. Obviously,
this has changed my life completely and kept me from doing
most normal teen things. But, the worst part was not being
allowed to run, ski, skate, or do anything that had the
potential of making me fall until the surgeons deemed me
ready. Still, I made it my priority to be outside at least
once a day, usually taking short walks. Getting outside even
when I felt unable to do most other things has been a type of
therapy for me. Breathing fresh air and feeling the cold on
my face refreshed me and made me feel better, at least for a
little while, every time.
After six weeks of limited activity, the Friday I got the
OK to do any activity I wished began the best weekend since
the diagnosis. In the afternoon, I went snowshoeing on a
trail through the cattails. At night, I ice skated with
friends. The next morning, I cross country skied on a frozen
creek. On Sunday, I ran for the first time since the
diagnosis and though it was incredibly slow-paced, the
feeling of fighting through the burn and completing an entire
loop of my go-to trail can only be understood by those who
have experienced the phenomenon of a runner's high. Better
yet was the soreness that almost kept me from making it down
the stairs Monday morning. I had been sore many times due to
the chemotherapy, but this pain was something I had caused
myself by working hard and, in a weird way, made me very
proud of myself.
Reading the announcement of this essay contest in the paper
this Thursday, I could hardly withhold my excitement! I
danced around the house, imagining the essay I would write
and how much fun it would be to share my favorite place with
my friends. Though I am such a lover of the BWCA, most of my
friends have never experienced its hypnotic serenity and I've
always wanted to share it with them, but not wanted to have
to bring my parents along. This contest has the potential of
granting me this wish. In addition, I am lucky to have a
short treatment plan of chemotherapy and radiation that will
be wrapped up in early May with no physical restrictions.
This enables me to be perfectly ready for a summer trip to
the greatest place on Earth with my closest friends.
As I reviewed the details of the contest, I found something
additional that links me to this mission: Joseph [one of the
contest judges]. Hi! I read that you were diagnosed with
leukemia at 13 years old and I imagine you and I share many
similar experiences. Other than just the typical cancer
similarities, I wonder if you share the experience of growing
a little sick of your parents. I know, it might seem
impossible to them, but after being surrounded and worried
about almost exclusively by my parents for the last couple
months, I'm very ready to escape their concern for a little
while. Of course, I have always and will always love and
appreciate them for their constant love and support, but
distance makes the heart grow fonder, right? My desire to
spend a couple days deep in the wilderness, sharing unique
experiences with my closest friends, has increased greatly in
the last couple months.
As a long-time lover of the outdoors and the Boundary
Waters and a recent parent-escape hopeful, I would cherish
this opportunity to navigate the lakes and portages I'm so
fond of with my friends. I know my dreams will soon be filled
with mornings looking out over the water, long days of
paddling, dinners laughing beside the campfire, and nights
sleeping with only a tent between me and a sky full of stars.
I pray these dreams will be made a reality.
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