×

Rock of Justice

News Photos by Julie Goldberg Alpena High School senior Justice Carter had surgery on Oct. 26, 2016 to remove a bouncy ball-sized tumor in her brain. Her family and friends surprised her on the two-year anniversary of the surgery by painting the rock in front of the high school for her.

ALPENA — On Oct. 26, 2016, Alpena High School senior Justice Carter had surgery to remove a bouncy ball-sized tumor from her brain.

To celebrate the two-year anniversary of that surgery on Friday, her family and friends surprised her by painting the rock in front of the high school to show their love and support for her.

Justice’s mom, Amanda Tolen, along with help from friends and family, decided to decorate the high school rock for Justice. Justice didn’t see the rock painted until she arrived to school on Friday, so she was shocked, but also happy.

“I thought it was really sweet and I kind of got a little teary-eyed,” Justice, 17, said. “I thought it was really sweet and some of my friends helped.”

Justice’s surgery in 2016 lasted 17 hours and doctors said she had a 20-percent chance of coming back as herself, and an 80-percent chance of having a deficit.

“It was really terrifying, but I trusted my doctors,” she said. “I had some of the best neurologists — if not the actual best neurologists — around.”

Amanda said she was sad and angry to see her daughter go through the surgery and the seizures that happened before and after, but she said Justice was consoling everyone before her surgery.

“She’s never had a breaking point,” Amanda said.

Justice has complex focal epilepsy. She had two seizures before surgery and five after the surgery. She will be epileptic her whole life, and she’s had grand mal seizures.

“She’s been amazing through this,” Amanda said. “She doesn’t realize everything she’s been through, she’s taking it in stride.”

Justice’s sister, Jenna Tolen, was 8 when Justice had her first seizure when they home alone in 2016, before the surgery, and Jenna had the immediate instinct to call 911 and ask for help.

Jenna, who is 10 now, let the person who answered the 911 call know that her sister was unresponsive, that she wasn’t sure if she was breathing, and she had her turned on her side.

“It was really scary, because I was home alone with her,” Jenna said. “I’m very, very proud of her, and I think she’s doing amazing now.”

“My parents are (emergency medical technicians), so we’re definitely a giant medical family. I thought it was really impressive of her,” Justice said of her sister’s feats. “I probably could have died without her, so call it a win. My sister always has my back, she’s my best friend and I love her.”

Family and friends of Justice Carter paint the rock in front of Alpena High School to celebrate the two-year anniversary of Justice having surgery to remove a bouncy ball-sized tumor in her brain.

Justice said she wouldn’t have been able to get through the hard times if it wasn’t for the support from her friends and family.

“I like to pretend that it’s not that bad, but, sometimes, it’s really hard,” Justice said. “Every time I have a seizure, I have to set back driving, because you have to be seizure-free for six months on one epilepsy medication.”

The seizures have taken a toll on Justice’s body, so having the support from her family and friends has helped her.

Before the surgery and seizures happened, Justice wanted to be lawyer. But she now wants to be a neurologist to help children.

She also wants to attend Northern Michigan University, because of its neurology program.

“I want to be a pediatric neurologist,” she said. “I found out that they (NMU) have a neurology program and it seems like a good fit, because I don’t want a big school like U-of-M and Northern’s a little smaller and similar to our town. I think it would be a good fit.”

Julie Goldberg can be reached at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5688.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today