Hallie Kile '19
I was empowered both on the journalism end and on the science end. I want to do the most I possibly can with the time I have, and I feel like I have been given all the tools here.
In a few short months, Hallie Kile will take a test that will define her future. It isn’t a standardized exam or a tough final. Rather, it is a genetic test that will look for markers that indicate whether or not she is likely to develop Huntington’s disease, the terminal illness that took her father’s life far too early.
If tests show the markers for Huntington’s, Hallie expects symptoms to begin developing in her early 30s or before. Her condition would become increasingly worse over the next decade as the disease causes the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain.
It’s a possibility that is difficult to fathom when you meet the Ohio University senior, who is absolutely bursting with optimism, energy, and ideas.
“I’m scared. But, for 22 years I’ve planned to test positive. I’ve told myself that whatever amount of time I have, whether it’s small or large, I want to do everything I possibly can to help people,” Hallie said in an interview in August.
That idea of helping people, of creating change in the world, is part of what led Hallie to a possible career path in journalism and therefore to Ohio University, home of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism which has been consistently ranked as one of the nation’s best journalism schools.
During her four years at OHIO, her passion shifted, first to strategic communications. It was a class project that made her realize she wanted to move away from traditional journalism. “I wanted to use my writing to do something different—to encourage people to focus on the positive things in their life,” she recalled.
That was something Hallie had practiced every day since the age of nine when her father was diagnosed.
For her class project, Hallie asked for the flexibility to shift from a writing assignment to a social media project, and she launched the campaign All the Things You Are on campus. With T-shirts, an Instagram account, and a personal blog, Hallie set out to help people find things they loved about themselves. In her latest post, she wrote: “Let’s help one another love the real version of who we are. Let’s believe in what it really means to be enough, because you and I are enough.”
Believing in that concept—that whatever life she lives will be enough—is ever-present in Hallie’s thoughts. At the same time, she is constantly pushing for more. That’s why late in her college career Hallie decided to reconsider a once-forgotten dream.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be a physician,” she said. Her junior year she decided to add a pre-medicine track. If her tests come back negative for Huntington’s, she will apply for Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in the spring. If she tests positive, she may consider pursuing a shorter track toward being a physician assistant through the School of Rehabilitation and Communications Studies in OHIO’s College of Health Sciences and Professions.
Regardless of the outcome of her test and her life, Hallie credits her years at Ohio University with helping her see that even if her time is limited, the possibilities aren’t.
“I was empowered both on the journalism end and on the science end,” Hallie said. “I want to do the most I possibly can with the time I have, and I feel like I have been given all the tools here.”