Meredith Prescott

Meredith Prescott proudly graduated in May, but it wasn’t easy getting there.

The motivated, confident and easygoing psychology student found the life she had come to know and love at this university changed after she was diagnosed with the blood disorder ITP during her senior year.

“I think it was a hard thing for me,” Prescott said. “To wake up one day and realize that my whole life would be different.”

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura is a blood disorder that causes unusually low levels of platelets, the cells that help clot blood, leading to excessive bruising or bleeding.

ITP isn’t common enough that the average hematologist can treat it, Prescott said, so the then-second-semester senior had to go to a specialist to find the right expertise. Not only was the treatment taxing and scarce, but she began feeling sick from the drugs and side effects.

“You don’t really want to be on treatments, but you don’t really have a choice,” Prescott said. “And that’s the scary thing.”

It also took some time to find the right treatment for her, she said. The first treatments yielded negative responses, meaning she’d have to continue treatment to try to raise her platelet count.

At 21, Prescott had a vibrant life in College Park. She was a member of the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority, took classes and interned at Morgan Stanley, a financial services firm in Bethesda.

Prescott had to make a difficult decision: As much as she wanted to continue living with her sorority sisters in College Park, the risk was too great and she needed to move home to Livingston, N.J., to get the treatment she needed.

But though she couldn’t be in College Park, she was determined to graduate on time and not let her illness affect her friends and family.

“I didn’t want everyone to be so impacted,” Prescott said. “I wanted everyone’s lives to go on.”

Prescott finished her classes online, and given the circumstances and her plummeting platelet count, she knew it was the right decision.

“[Meredith]’s a very motivated person, and that helps you accomplish things when you’re going through periods like this,” said Bruce Prescott, Meredith’s father. If she had given up on school or graduating, he said, “It would be admission that the disease had taken over her life.”

And Meredith Prescott never wanted ITP to take over. She would never let the disorder define her, she said, and she never wanted anyone to feel bad for her. She would rather do the helping than be helped.

“She’s the most outgoing, friendly, bubbly person I know, and since she’s had [ITP], she hasn’t even changed because of it,” said her sorority sister, Samantha Cheslow, who also graduated in May. “She’s that same bubbly person despite everything.”

Because the disorder is not widely known, patients with ITP often feel alone and in the dark, so Prescott saw this as an opportunity to get the word out.

With ITP Awareness Month coming up in September and the Platelet Disorder Support Association conference in July, she recently decided to post her story on ITP … In Our Words …, a blog dedicated to awareness of the disorder, to help others who are going through the same experience.

Giving back to others doesn’t stop there for Prescott, as she will be attending Fordham University’s graduate school next year to become a social worker, and she recently organized a walk in her town for ITP. On Sunday, Aug. 11, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Livingston, N.J., her walk will raise money and awareness and give people an opportunity to share their stories.

“[Meredith] is extremely persistent, and when there is a cause that she believes in, there is absolutely nothing that will stop her,” Bruce Prescott said.

She is now being treated with Nplate, a drug specifically developed to treat ITP, and has weekly blood tests. To add to the uncertainty, the drug isn’t meant to be taken for an extended period and patients can develop immunity to it, although Prescott is hoping that if her treatment continues to go well, she won’t have to use it.

“I’m lucky right now,” Prescott said. “No. 1, I’m here. No. 2, I got to choose Nplate, and it is working.”

The reality of the disorder is that it’s life-changing, not just a small bump in the road. She continues to stay “cautious, but optimistic,” she said.

It’s frightening to put your life in a doctor’s hands and to depend solely on a number, Prescott said, but she continues to hope for the best and is most concerned with keeping everyone else in her life happy.

“Once you lose your confidence, you lose everything,” Prescott said. “You can’t lose that, because that’s huge.”

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