Jon Lane

Tonganoxie High School seniors flung their mortarboards excitedly into the air last weekend, celebrating the start of life after high school.

But for one senior, the future is uncertain.

Meet Jon Lane, an 18-year-old who was absent from school nearly as many days as he was present during his senior year.

Lane has had serious medical issues the past five years, but his condition intensified a year ago when doctors discovered he had lead poisoning.

He was experiencing pain in his side, nausea and vomiting.

“I was just really sick daily,” Lane recalled. “Oftentimes, I wouldn’t make it through a day of school.”

At one point, Lane’s lead levels were so high that he was rushed to Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, Mo. Doctors determined through X-rays that Lane had several lead pellets in his stomach.

After searching Lane’s house, the culprit was found – a stress ball. Lane has been a sleepwalker since he was a child. Lane and his doctors theorized he bit into the stress ball, which was near his bed, during a sleepwalking episode. Stuffing in the stress ball contained the lead.

Lead poisoning was just the beginning.

Doctors later determined Lane had autoimmune liver disease.

“I’ve been in and out of KU (Hospital) for the last couple months,” Lane said.

The mortality rate for people who have the disease, if untreated, is 40 percent after six months, 50 percent after three years and 90 percent for 10 years. A treatment option would be a live donor transplant, in which someone would give Lane a part of his or her liver.

As a way to relieve stress, Lane started writing.

He’s been in contact with a couple of small publishing companies about transforming his story into a book.

Lane said the first half of his book basically is finished and includes all that he’s been through during the past year.

The second half will be written this summer and will focus on upcoming trips – a road trip in June to the West Coast with friends and a backpacking trip in July to Canada.

“I just feel like I need to live life,” Lane said. “I haven’t been a person to let sickness drag me down.”

It’s common for lead poisoning to diminish IQ and cause mental problems, but that wasn’t true in Lane’s case. “Amazingly, my brain held up to the high lead levels,” he said.

Lane wasn’t one of 19 THS graduates honored for maintaining a 4.0 grade-point average in high school, but he was oh-so-close – he received a lone B in Spanish II this year.

And through all the tribulations, Lane still helped Tonganoxie’s debate and forensics programs win state titles.

“I really enjoy debate, so winning that, it was well worth it,” Lane said.

THS debate and forensics coach Steve Harrell said Lane’s perseverance was impressive.

“His physical side, it’s just been one episode after another, and that’s been unfortunate,” Harrell said. “But from my perspective, I’ve never seen a kid who willed himself to get things done and gut things out.”

Lane said if his health allows he will attend Kansas University in the fall.

“If I have a chance, I’ll probably major in computer engineering,” Lane said.