Test may have saved life

Students studying to become medical assistants may have saved a life — the life of one of their peers.

Stephanie Petty, a Riverton High School senior, last week participated in a blood test lesson as part of the Jordan Applied Technology Center's medical assisting program. That's when a classmate found she might be in big trouble.

She was. Petty is bleeding internally.

Had she not received the warning, and guidance from teacher Carolyn Stevens, Petty wondered Tuesday whether she'd be alive.

"If Carolyn hadn't been there . . . I probably would have waited (to seek medical attention)," Petty said from the hospital, where she's recovering. "She definitely saved my life there. I'm going to owe her big time. As soon as I get out of here, I'm going to get her a big present."

Petty has not been feeling tip top for a while.

The 18-year-old student has been taking college courses along with a full high school class schedule. She's an officer of Riverton High's DECA club and has an eye on a career in hospital business management. She also has a part-time job.

Parents Ken and Yvonne Petty thought that kind of load might have something to do with their daughter's fatigue, dizzy spells and occasional nausea.

"We were just thinking, we have an overachiever daughter who just works herself to the bone," Yvonne Petty said. "We thought she was burning the candle at both ends. We thought she wasn't sleeping or eating the right way."

Stephanie Petty recently mentioned the symptoms to teacher Stevens, who has taught 17 years at the Jordan ATC, now at the West Jordan Salt Lake Community College campus. Stevens suggested she see a doctor.

Friday, her class learned hematocrit testing, which checks the percentage of a person's packed red blood cells. Between 37 and 47 percent is normal for a female, Stevens said. Stephanie Petty's count was 21 percent, a student's test found. Stevens' retest produced the same result.

"That was alarming right off the bat," said Stevens, who has never seen such a low count. "I know people a lot higher than that who have trouble moving."

Stevens told Stephanie Petty to contact her doctor immediately. The teen got an appointment the next day, Saturday, and was told she'd have test results Monday. The doctor later said to go to the hospital if she experienced headaches or dizziness.