LIFE

Butler-bound teen 'thankful' surgeries to restore her sight didn't work

Maureen C. Gilmer
maureen.gilmer@indystar.com
Haley Sumner, 18, uses her Braille Sense communicator to complete an anatomy lab exercise at Ben Davis High School. Sumner is a blind Ben Davis senior who won a Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship to Butler University.

Close your eyes. Now imagine navigating the halls of one of the state's largest high schools during passing period — 3,000 students, 1 million square feet of real estate, nothing but shadows.

That's Haley Sumner's world. The Ben Davis High School senior is blind. She can sense light and shadows, but that's it. And she walks these halls every day with confidence.

She has places to go. Honors classes, Spanish Club, advisory council meetings with the principal, volunteer work.

When you meet Haley, she immediately extends her hand in greeting. Her smile is warm and real. She talks fast and laughs easily.

Those people skills and that confidence, along with a sharp mind, have brought her here. To the final days of high school. To graduation. To the next step.

Haley, set to graduate June 13 with an Academic Honors diploma, has a 4.86 GPA. She has a full-ride scholarship to Butler University. Full tuition and a stipend for books for four years are courtesy of a Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship. Lilly scholarships are awarded based on grades, community service, essays, interviews, etc. In Indiana, 142 will be awarded this year, nine in Marion County, according to a spokeswoman. Haley's housing will be covered by a Butler grant.

"I can't wait to start. I'm just really excited about everything the future holds," she said.

That's been her attitude for as long as she can remember. The adults in her life back that up.

Lori Hmurovich has spent just about every school day with Haley for 12 years. She's a paraprofessional with the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, and she has watched the once shy first-grader grow into a bright, confident high school senior.

"It's been fantastic watching her grow up," Hmurovich said. She never gets frustrated or angry. She rolls with things."

In the early years, Hmurovich spent a good chunk of her day with Haley, learning Braille with her, getting her on and off the school bus and assisting her in the classroom as needed.

Haley Sumner received her acceptance letter to Butler University, written in Braille, from Butler Blue III "Trip."

As Haley grew more confident, she needed less help. Hmurovich is ready to assist her with her food tray in the cafeteria, and she pops into her honors anatomy and calculus classes but stays in the background. She's with her less than half the day now. Haley finds her way to her classes and to the school bus on her own.

Haley uses Braille textbooks and a Braille Sense computer that allows her to read, type and email assignments. Like most teenagers, she doesn't go anywhere without her phone. She texts and emails, using a voice app that translates typed words into spoken words so she knows if she has made a mistake when punching in letters.

On this day, she's typing into her Braille Sense and observing as her anatomy lab partners dissect a fetal pig. She might not be doing the cutting, but she's fully involved in the exercise.

"I'm at an advantage here," she said with a laugh. "I don't have to see the pig."

She sure can smell it though, so the dab of peppermint essential oil the students apply under their noses helps.

"The students here have been together for years," said honors anatomy teacher Amy Keller. "They're all in top academic classes. They are used to not just helping her, but being helped by her."

That last comment is key to understanding who Haley is.

She was a preemie, born at 26 weeks. She weighed 1 pound, 6 ounces and suffered retinaopathy of prematurity — her retinas were detached. She spent months in the hospital, having multiple surgeries to repair a hole in her heart and other issues. But doctors were not able to correct her sight.

She recounts this medical history matter-of-factly, but it's what she says afterward that is hard to believe.

"I had 10 surgeries in the hospital on my sight, but they didn't work, and I'm thankful that they didn't work because I wouldn't have had as many opportunities as I do today."

The question is put to her a couple of times, a couple different ways. "Are you telling me you really don't wish that you could see? You can be totally honest."

"Yeah, there's never been a day that I wished I could see. I've never ever had that feeling. I've never been depressed about my vision. I feel I was meant to be born that way. I mean I was born that way, so I can't change anything. Why worry about it?"

She uses her other senses to compensate for her lack of sight. She has an ear for music and took piano lessons for many years.

"Blindness isn't an obstacle," she continues. "We just do some things differently. In all honesty, to me it's a blessing. I love to show the world you can do anything you set your mind to, no matter what barriers you have."

That's the feeling she had when she first walked into Ben Davis High School.

"I was ready to show people I could conquer the school."

Haley Sumner, 18, who is fully blind, plays piano in one of the practice rooms at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, Ind., Thursday, May 21, 2015. Sumner is a Ben Davis senior whose Butler University tuition will be paid for by one of the city's Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships.

Step by step, she did.

Before the start of every semester, Haley got an advance copy of her class schedule, then walked the halls, memorizing the route to her classes. She carries a walking stick to warn her of obstacles in her path and a heavy backpack on her 5-foot, 3-inch, 100-pound frame.

"I've never seen a student with the level of disability that Haley has embrace it like she does," Keller said of her star student. "She truly views it as an opportunity. I can talk about her all day."

Her counselor is just as enthusiastic.

"She's done everything that any high-achieving student has done and beyond," said Sonya Hicks, Haley's high school adviser for three years. "She doesn't see obstacles. I don't view her disability as that because she doesn't see it as an obstacle. Her attitude is, 'If I want to do it, I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do my best at it.' "

More important than her grit, though, is her compassion, Hicks said.

"She makes everyone around her feel at ease. I've noticed sometimes when people are gathered around her you think they're helping her when actually she's helping them. She finds ways to help other people. It's just amazing."

On Thursday, Haley will join other top students for the school's Evening of Excellence. She is ranked 14th in a class of 1,000. Her grandparents, Rick and Jackie Sumner, will be there. They've raised her since she came home from the hospital. Her best friend since kindergarten — another high achiever — will be there. Her teachers, advisers and classmates will be there — for the awards and for graduation at Indiana Farmers Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on June 13.

Jackie Sumner said nothing stops her granddaughter. "She had to fight when she was a baby to survive, and she's never let her disability get her down."

Growing up, her grandfather told her that just because she was blind didn't mean she couldn't do things, and she has proved him right. Especially in the classroom, Jackie said. "Academically, she left us back in the fourth and fifth grade."

After graduation, she will travel to New Jersey, where she is being matched with a service dog who will be her constant companion at Butler. She plans to study psychology, with a goal to give back to the community that has given so much to her.

The Sumners have timed the drive to Butler — 28 to 31 minutes — from their home, so they can be there quickly if she needs them. But Haley is ready for the challenge.

She has a pretty good sense for people and wants them to know that being blind is really not a big deal to her, so please don't make a fuss.

"It's all I've known. It's really not as awful as it seems."

And with that, she's off to her next class, confidently navigating the crowded halls and looking forward to the future.

Call Star reporter Maureen Gilmer at (317) 444-6879. Follow her on Twitter: @MaureenCGilmer.

(From right) Haley Sumner, a senior at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, Ind., walks with Lori Hmurovich, Thursday, May 21, 2015. Hmurovich has worked as a paraprofessional for Sumner, who is fully blind, since she was in first grade.