‘We did it’: How a Connecticut teen overcame the odds and a rare disease to walk again at graduation

The Middletown Press – Tuesday, May 27, 2025
By Cris Villalonga-Vivoni

Isabella “Bella” Chambasis was told by her doctors that they weren’t sure she was going to walk again.

She lost that ability four years ago. Now 17 and set to graduate high school in just a few days, Chambasis has been fighting to regain that ability and more.

She takes one step. Then two. A powerful third. Chambasis is already halfway across the physical therapy room, leaning into her mom and a cane for support.

“I’m kind of glad my doctors told me I’d never be able to do it,” she said with a chuckle. “Because now I get to say to them, ‘well, you were wrong.'”

The fourth and fifth steps, more like shuffles at this point, follow, but Chambasis doesn’t stop until she reaches the physical therapist who is patiently waiting for her at the halfway point.

Her therapist extends a whiteboard for her to grab and shakes her hand before Chambasis continues her journey across the gym and back to her wheelchair. She does this all while accompanied by the iconic graduation march Pomp and Circumstance blasting through a nearby phone.

At 13 years old, Chambasis was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease and then experienced a stroke that left her in a month-long coma, all of which impacted her mobility and cognitive ability. Years of therapy and surgeries helped Chambasis relearn how to talk, walk, and even do homework, all while she hoped to graduate on time with her classmates at East Haven High School. She’s been practicing walking at graduation since September and expects to be doing the real thing in a few weeks.

Walking at graduation to Chambasis is a celebration of everything she has overcome and a “thank you” to the community that supported her, like her mom, who will be walking beside her.

“I feel like walking at graduation is going to not only blow (my mom’s) mind,” Chambasis said. “But it’s gonna also potentially make kids realize that I’m not just the girl in the wheelchair.”

‘Roll with the punches’

Chambasis’ mother, Deann Hurley, is a “roll with the punches” kind of mom, keeping a relatively positive attitude despite the tragedy life throws her way. Those punches, however, have been more devastating than most.

In 2009, her oldest daughter, Ariana, was killed at the age of 7. The man convicted of her murder, a family friend of the woman who was watching Ariana at the time, was handed two life sentences without the possibility of release in 2011. Hurley said at the time the sentence helped close the chapter and create new memories with her family.

Only a few weeks after the sentencing, Hurley’s longtime boyfriend and Chambasis’ father died in a motorcycle accident.

Hurley continued raising Chambasis and her older sister as a single mom for a long time. So, when Chambasis suddenly became sick, it felt like just “one blow after the other.”

In late January 2021, Chambasis started having severe nosebleeds out of nowhere, which urgent care medical staff attributed to dryness. A few days later, she developed a fever, was vomiting blood and struggling to breathe.

Happening during the COVID-19 pandemic, the family assumed the virus had made its way to their home with some additional symptoms. Hurley remembers carrying her daughter into the hospital, who was at that point “gray” looking.

Instead of COVID-19, Hurley said that Chambasis was experiencing acute renal failure and had a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells, or anemia. Doctors treated her with an immediate blood transfusion and dialysis treatment. She was also intubated to help her breathe better.

Chambasis was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that attacks blood vessels and small organs called ANCA–associated vasculitis. It was specifically affecting her kidneys and heart, which caused and worsened her symptoms.

She stayed in the hospital as doctors treated her, but she experienced a stroke and brain bleed at the end of March. Doctors performed a craniotomy to stop the bleed, which left her in a comatose state throughout the majority of April.

Hurley said she remembers having several conversations with doctors about her daughter’s “quality of life,” believing she may never talk or walk when she woke up.

The first glimmer of hope came when Chambasis started to instinctively and perfectly lip sync to songs from her favorite artist, Billie Eilish, while still in a coma.

Working toward graduation

Adjusting to their family’s new normal after Chambasis woke up came with many challenges, especially at first. Hurley gave up her career as a property manager to care for Chambasis and was at the hospital nearly daily over the eight-month stay. A few friends started a GoFundMe to help raise enough money to cover medical costs.

Chambasis doesn’t remember much of the early days of her health issues and lost count of the number of appointments, but she keeps track of her surgeries by counting the number of scars, or “battle wounds.”

“One…two…three,” she quietly counts before concluding that it was at least more than 10 surgeries when asked how many she’s had.

Recovery was slow – first, only managing a thumbs up and a smile before moving on to intensive speech, physical and occupational therapy. Chambasis was also dealing with dialysis treatments three times a week. She was also unable to walk at first due to weakness on her left side, relying on her wheelchair to move around.

Things significantly changed for Chambasis’s health after receiving a kidney transplant in May of 2022. The focus from then on has been on physical and occupational therapy, all to walk at her high school graduation.

Chambasis has been practicing her graduation walk twice weekly with Gaylord physical therapist Jaedean Hoff. They got the exact stage dimensions from her high school.

With gentle and firm encouragement, Hoff pushes Chambasis through different exercises after walking, finding creative and engaging activities, like body weight training and playing “Whack-a-Mole” with flashing lights. She also knows Chambasis’s limits, frequently checking in while setting up the next exercise because she also knows that the teen won’t stop until she figuratively drops.

Hoff said they practice how far Chambasis and Hurley have to walk on graduation day, almost every visit. She’s noticed a significant improvement in the teen, who makes more purposeful and independent steps each day.

Although physical therapy can tire her, Chambasis said she’s “learned that I’m a very positive person” who doesn’t give up. Just to reaffirm it, she requests Frank Sinatra’s My Way on the car ride home from a session.

“She’s doing great,” Hoff chimed in. “We still have got another month of work on it, but it’s gonna happen.”

Celebrating Bella

Somehow, between her appointments and therapies, Chambasis still found time to go to school. Chambasis was wrapping up eighth grade when she became sick in 2021 and didn’t rejoin her classmates until her sophomore year of high school.

The mother-daughter duo said they were initially worried, especially since it’d be the first time her class and school staff would see her since the diagnosis and she was now using a wheelchair.

Hurley said balancing the appointments and school work also felt like two full-time jobs for both of them, but her schools were accommodating as Chambasis became more independent.

Yet, she said her daughter still missed some major teen milestones because of her illness, like having a Sweet 16 birthday party, dancing at prom and joining the senior class trip. Making walking at graduation all the more important.

“I want her to feel like, ‘I did it and I’m doing it the same way that all the other kids are doing it,'” Hurley said.

Hurley said her daughter is technically a few credits short of graduating, but East Haven High School is still letting her walk the stage with the rest of her classmates and friends, recognizing how hard she’s worked to keep up. She’ll return to school in the fall to finish the last courses.

Although she’s not exactly sure where to go to college, Chambasis said she plans to stay local. Eventually, she’ll pursue her childhood dream of joining the medical field, now doubly inspired by her experiences with the care system over the last four years.

“I’m excited to be able to share this part of our story with all the people that have helped us to say, ‘look at what we did collectively as a group,'” she said. “The prayers, the donations, just the support alone, she’s the proof in the pudding. Look at what we’ve all done together.”

Hurley gets a little teary-eyed watching her daughter in physical therapy, who gets stronger with each session, knowing she’s a step closer to graduation day. She said it’s as if she’s back watching her walk for the first time as a baby.

“To look back four years ago, when we weren’t even sure that we were going to be at graduation, anticipating to see her, walk… there’s no words for it, honestly, like I can’t even express how grateful I am,” she said.

“I couldn’t be more lucky to be able to be her mom and support her through this journey and watch her grow into this beautiful young woman,” said Hurley, turning to her kid. “You did it.”

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