Compelling 2018 grad: St. Mark's student Hannah Daneker competes to cope with cancer
As more than 8,000 high school seniors move into high season for graduations, we'd like to introduce you to three notable young women who will soon zip into caps and gowns.
St. Mark's student Hannah Daneker finds focus and meaning in her love for the equestrian competition of eventing after surviving surgery for a brain tumor the size of a tennis ball.
Look on www.delawareonline.com for stories about Tower Hills' Zara Ali and MOT Charter's Juanita Ortiz.
Ali and her sister turned some of their savings into a program that would help Mumbai, India, artisans support themselves and their families.
Compelling 2018 grad: Tower Hill's Zara Ali helps Indian artisans support families
MOT Charter's Juanita Ortiz is determined to be successful after surviving the 2013 attack in a Nairobi, Kenya, mall, where her father died.
Compelling 2018 grad: MOT Charter's Juanita Ortiz survived Kenyan Mall attack
Hannah Daneker
St. Mark’s senior Hannah Daneker has been riding horses since she was 2. The only breaks in her commitment: her upcoming time in college and her recovery seven years ago from brain tumor surgery.
“I love horses and everything. It’s a hard living, but it clears the mind,” she said of the two hours a day she devotes, six days a week, to lessons, riding and caring for her mount.
Daneker began her equestrian life when her mother, Lori, a former rider, bought her a pony. She started competing as a hunter and now does eventing, which combines dressage, cross-country and stadium performances. She’s about halfway through the 10 U.S. Equestrian Association categories.
The tumor was discovered when the resident of Avondale, Pennsylvania was an Upland Country Day School fifth-grader, after a year or so of recurring sickness, when she’d curl up into a ball. The pilocytic astrocytoma was the size of a small tennis ball and growing slowly in her medulla oblongata, the section of the brain that controls involuntary functions, like breathing.
Surgeons feared the risk of operating in such a sensitive area, so it was good news when her family found a willing team at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. Daneker also found a career.
“Physician’s assistant Stephanie Chen was so good that it made me want to do that as a career,” said Daneker, who’ll study the field at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. “I think her job is so cool.”
Her tumor also led her to take AP Psychology — “I’m just interested in the brain” — and become vice president of the school psychology club.
Although 95 percent of the tumor was removed, it’s left her with bad hand-eye coordination, a nasally voice and a tough time for her dentist because a lot of magnetic resonance imaging means she shouldn’t have X-rays.
“I can’t play sports because of my below-average balance, but horses help that way,” she said.
Otherwise, she is a hard-working student with a 3.5 grade-point average who is determined to improve her equestrian skills, lately with a horse named Paris. She also works for Dover Saddlery.
“Hannah has proven herself to be tenacious in overcoming a life-threatening medical challenge (a brain tumor) which has successfully been addressed, but has made her even more determined to reach her goals,” Wayne Smeigh, her college counselor, wrote in her recommendation letter.
Daneker has competed often nationally, but her first international chance was scotched last year when Paris was injured. Horses are prone to injuries, she said, noting she’s only had one broken arm from riding.
“I think she loves me,” she said of Paris, her partner for three years. “We’re coming along, still building a partnership.”
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