Harris County teen goes for 4th state title after overcoming brain surgery, curved spine
When she gets set at the starting line Nov. 7 for the Class 4A girls race at the Georgia High School Association cross country championships in Carrollton, Harris County senior Effie Ward — a three-time state titlist in track — could think about what she has overcome to reach this moment or the goals she has achieved or the goals she hasn’t attained.
Instead, she plans to cherish the present, motivated by the song “First Things First” by Consumed by Fire. The chorus:
“First thing’s first I seek Your will Not my own Surrender all my wants to You Keep the first thing first To live Your truth Walk Your ways Set my eyes Lord, I fix my face on You All my desires reversed To keep the first thing first.”
Faith is at the heart of Effie’s efforts, she says.
“It’s just about putting God first and His glory before ours,” Effie told the Ledger-Enquirer. “I’m running for the glory of God, so I’m just going to go out there and have fun.”
From scoliosis diagnosis to brain surgery
Effie has faced a long road to even participate in cross country, much less win state titles.
Effie was born 5½ weeks prematurely. She was cross-eyed and severely farsighted. She started wearing eyeglasses at 2 years old.
In October 2017, Effie’s mother, Julie, took her and her brothers to their pediatrician for a wellness check. The doctor did a routine scoliosis screening on Carson. His siblings were too young for that, but they thought it looked like fun.
Cullen hollered, “I want to be screened, too!”
Effie interjected, “Me, too!”
So, when it was Effie’s turn, Julie was sitting in a chair in front of her. The mother saw her daughter’s lopsided shoulders and thought she was goofing around.
“Effie, quit being so silly,” Julie told her. “Stand up straight.”
“I am standing up straight,” Effie replied.
X-rays later that day confirmed it: Effie had a severely curved spine — more than 30 degrees in her upper spine and more than 20 degrees in her lower spine.
In hindsight, that was a blessing in disguise, the Wards believe.
“Thank God,” Julie said. “It was such a God thing.”
That’s because her scoliosis diagnosis also led to an MRI that was abnormal. It detected a Chiari malformation in her brain. This is when the lower part of the brain herniates through the skull and into the spinal canal.
And that caused Effie to develop syringomyelia, an alarming amount of fluid buildup in the spinal cord. The dilated spinal canal weakened the muscles along Effie’s spine, which caused her scoliosis.
Effie underwent brain surgery in November 2017. During the operation, a surgeon cut a hole, about the size of a 50-cent piece, in the base of her skull to help the spinal fluid exchange. The operation was successful.
For six weeks after her surgery, Effie wasn’t allowed to run. Since then, however, Effie has excelled at long-distance running.
Running with joy and liberation
Running has been a joy for Effie since elementary school. In her first race, she won her age group and was the overall female winner at the 2016 Georgia Blueberry Festival 1-mile run in Julie’s hometown of Alma.
In 2018, she won her age group at the Midtown Classic 5K with a time of 23:36, the Woodruff Park 5K with a time of 26:10 and the Columbus Roadrunners 4-miler with a time of 34:42. She was the third overall female finisher at the Aaron Cohn Middle School Bulldogs for a Cure 5K with a time of 26:10 and the Firefighters MDA 5K with a time of 26:00.
Running also has been liberating for Effie because it was the only time she was allowed to not wear a confining brace that helped straighten the severe curve in her spine. So that gave Effie incentive to run even more.
And when Effie realized the core-strengthening exercises she learned from Harris County High School cross-country coach Donnie Ellis combatted her scoliosis while making her a better runner, she committed to putting those first things first.
Her spine straightened enough for Ellie to stop wearing the brace entering her freshman year of high school, and now she has been released from treatment at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
State championships
Ellis also is the long-distance running coach on the HCHS track team. Effie credits him with helping her persevere through anxiety by focusing on what she can control. The results speak for themselves.
As a sophomore in 2024, Effie won two GHSA Class 5A girls state championships: in the 1,600 meters (5:03.59) and in the 3,200 meters (10:53.45). She also finished second in the 800 meters (2:19.48).
As a junior this past spring, Effie won the GHSA Class 4A state championship in the 1,600-meter run (4:59.29) and finished second in the 3,200-meter run (10:47.29).
Her performance produced the most individual points at that meet and helped Harris County place second in the team standings. Second also is where Harris County finished at last year’s GHSA Class 4A girls cross country state championships, so Effie seeks to return from Carrollton with her first and the school’s first cross country state title.
Effie was ill with fever and vomiting the day of last year’s state cross country state championships and placed 19th in the 5K race (20:15.47) as a junior — a disappointing finish considering she placed third as a sophomore (19.00.41).
“I’m just going to go out there this time and do what I know how to do and really try to win the thing,” she said.
Ellis noted Effie’s best time this season (17:58) ranks third in GHSA Class 4A, 20 seconds behind the top spot, but she has beaten the No. 1-ranked runner “numerous times.”
“So the good news,” he said, “is that she’s right in position to chase that girl.”
Leadership
Ellis praised Effie’s leadership, lifting her teammates, as the Tigers are the top-ranked GHSA Class 4A girls cross country team.
“That’s a huge accomplishment,” he said, “given that we go up against a lot of Atlanta private schools.
Despite the subpar performance from Effie last year, Harris County finished second in the team standings. So, with six of that squad’s top seven runners on this year’s team, Ellis figures the Tigers are in prime position to capture the crown.
“Effie’s pursuit of excellence has really made everybody else on the team up their game,” he said. “… The core and the mobility exercises, all the little things that helped her get to the next level with her scoliosis, she’s been really good at being an advocate for all the hard work that it takes to get there.”
Seeing her teammates put in that hard work makes Effie confident about their chances for the championship.
“We’ve got a lot of competitive girls on our team,” she said. “If we all compete to our fullest ability, we 100% will have that state title.”
Medical perspective
Dr. Joshua Murphy, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, has been part of Effie’s medical team. Her success doesn’t surprise him.
“Effie has been determined to not let her diagnosis hold her back,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email. “She has always been capable of anything she put her mind to.
Murphy explained how dire her condition was and how far she has come.
“If Effie’s Chiari malformation, a structural defect where part of the lower back part of the brain extends into the spinal column, had been left untreated and if she had not been so vigilant with her bracing, there was a high probability she would have needed a spinal fusion,” he said. “This likely would have limited her running ability.
“While the medical intervention certainly got her on track, Effie’s progress has been remarkable mostly because of the mental toughness she possesses as well as the strong support of her family.”
Murphy lauds Effie’s consistent use of her back brace for helping her avoid the surgery they expected her to have at age 14, when she would have had a rod placed in her spine. Her curvature has been reduced to 14 degrees, he said, “just outside” the normal range of 10 degrees or less.
“She has always remained positive and a pleasure to work with,” Murphy said. “She is growing into a strong young woman, and I look forward to her success in college and beyond.”
Next steps
Effie has earned a scholarship as a long-distance runner in cross country and track for Belmont University, a private Christian school in Nashville. She plans to become a sports psychologist. And she already has a pep talk in mind for the athletes she would help:
“You learn through everything,” she said. “All things happen for a reason, and anytime I’ve ever had an injury or something that’s just kind of been put in my way it, I can look back at it and be like, ‘I’m so glad that God put me through that,’ because that’s really just such a blessing now that I can share with other people and share how God got me through that, and what the strength that it gave me today.”
