Case Study #33 - Anne Running the Boston Marathon

"Anne Running the Boston Marathon" 30" x 24" Oil on Canvas

Anne Shigley Noble has defied the odds most of her 29 years. Diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis type II (NF2) in Atlanta at 7, she had her first surgery in LA at 9, when a tumor paralyzed one side of her face. Against the odds, she came out grinning though deaf in the right ear. Battling NF2, she became a high school runner and swimmer, and dreamed of someday running the Boston Marathon.  She had more surgeries her senior year, in Boston for spinal cord tumors which came out without damage, and in LA for an auditory nerve tumor that deafened the left ear too. She finished high school and started college in Tennessee, with help of a captionist, and ran college cross country. In her freshman year she ran her first marathon with classmates cheering her on, then took medical leave to get her Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI). 

prep sketch

Anne transferred to Rochester Institute of Technology / National Technical Institute for the Deaf (RIT / NTID). She had summers in DC for sign language classes at Gallaudet, then NC, CO and PA for YMCA and camp jobs. At RIT, she met Steve, and they married after graduation. She continued running marathons, and with Steve added triathlons. She started a master in early childhood special education but after their wedding, Steve had an offer in NH. Now they are in their second house, in rural Meridan, NH, with a grand view of mountains. Steve is a telecom engineer at Dartmouth College, while Anne is a paraprofessional in early childhood special education. Just before turning 29, Anne fulfilled her dream of running the Boston Marathon - in the mobility impaired division – and raising over $5,000 for NF research with the Children's Tumor Foundation.