Mount Student Authors Book on Her Heroic Battle - Carroll County Times

Personal Stories

By Brandon Oland, Carroll County Times Staff Writer Carroll County Times

After surviving brain cancer, 10 surgeries and a radiation overdose that left her near death, Elizabeth Puleo decided to write a book about her plight.

When C.R. Webster found a journal her father wrote chronicling his gut-wrenching experiences in World War II, she felt compelled to share his story with others.

Puleo and Webster have recently released books ahead of Christmas of deeply personal accounts. In "Game Changer," Puleo, 21, of Westminster, shared every excruciating detail of her treatment for brain cancer as a youth. In "Dogs and Soldiers," Webster, 59, of Finksburg, chronicled the love story of her parents during World War II and how combat affected her late father.

"If you doubt me, that just motivates

me to want to prove you wrong."

Ever since being diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 5, Puleo managed to overcome the odds.

She survived a 14-hour surgery to remove her first tumor in 1995. She fought back after a second surgery to remove the tumor when it returned two years later.

When the tumor came back a third time six weeks later, she survived a radiation overdose that left her cancer-free but caused near-fatal side effects. Puleo suffered from a scarred pupil in her left eye, facial paralysis and numbness on the right side of her body.

Puleo needed to relearn how to do everything from walking to speaking. She spent part of her childhood unable to smile, a simple gesture people take for granted, she said.

"There was actually one of the side effects where I lost all facial movement, and I could not smile for about five years," she said. "It was so hard because that's the one thing I wanted back the most."

In her book, Puleo explained how her treatments, surgeries and personal motivation helped her overcome her physical ailments. She mentioned every detail, from a doctor who told her parents to plan for her death to former Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. paying for an airplane ticket so she could see a doctor on the West Coast.

Puleo still has difficulty annunciating some words and is legally blind in one eye. Nonetheless, Puleo said she aspires for a career in journalism or public relations.

Plus, her smile is back.

"Yes, I've been through a whole lot in my life," she said. "I really wanted to get my story out there and show people who I am and also try to inspire and touch a lot of lives."

"He dreamed of home and going

to church on Christmas Eve. He thought

of the turkey cooking on Christmas Day."

Army Staff Sgt. David Webster never talked about his World War II experiences.

His daughter C.R. knew he served. And that was about it.

After David's death, C.R.'s brother found a journal about his World War II experiences, including scaling the beaches of Normandy, France, two weeks after the first wave of troops rushed onshore. When C.R. read it, she said she learned about how much her father missed his future wife, how dangerous his tour was and how World War II continued to haunt him after returning home.

"He escaped death about six times," she said.

Much of C.R.'s book chronicles the love story of her parents. She discussed how much her mother Nora missed David while he was serving. And she devoted entire chapters of her book to how David spent Christmases at war.

Before Christmas of 1942, David wrote a letter home to Nora, discussing his trip past the Golden Gate Bridge on a giant ship en route to Hawaii for training.

Two years later, while serving in Germany, David spent a miserable Christmas in the trenches.

"I won't lie to you," David wrote to Nora in a letter before Christmas, "things are hostile over here. Lots of death and destruction."

David enclosed a handkerchief from Belgium that Nora carried everywhere.

C.R. spent part two of her book discussing how the war affected her father. When he returned home, he had a nightmare on his first night back that he was back in Germany fighting. C.R. said she thinks her father suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

When she read his journal, she said she could understand why. It was one of the reasons she said she felt so compelled to write it.

"I wrote this as a legacy for our family," she said, "but people keep asking me if they can read the book."

Reach staff writer Brandon Oland at 410-857-7862 or brandon.oland@carrollcountytimes.com.