Athlete who suffered two strokes graduates

MANTUA, Ohio -- Samantha Lough and her parents celebrated the end of her storybook career at Crestwood High School on Monday night.

Samantha was top ten in her class, captain of the softball team and co-mvp of the soccer team.

Samantha broke down in tears, when asked what it meant to be graduating with her classmates.

The emotion is understandable because she was struck down in March by two mysterious strokes that affected her speech, movement and strength.

Doctors had to place her in a medically-induced coma, but they could not answer her parents' question, how could this happen to a vibrant 17-year-old?

Samantha's father, Dan Lough, said, "Every day, it's just what can you do, you can't sit and go, 'Why us?' You go with what can we do to get better."

After emerging from the coma, Samantha showed the same committment to rehabilitation that she did to excellence on the athletic fields at Crestwood.

"A lot of hard work on Samantha's part, I mean a lot of hard work, grueling days, but she's a tremendous athlete, tremendous worker so without that we wouldn't be here," said Dan Lough.

Along the way, Samantha taught her classmates at Crestwood the most important lesson of their high school careers.

Ally Miller called Samantha's experience an 'eye opener.' "You know, you never know what you have until it's gone, so it's taught us not to take things for granted and be thankful for what we have," Miller explained.

And three months after suffering the debilitating strokes, Samantha Lough defied the odds and walked across the stage at Crestwood's graduation ceremony at Parkside Auditorium in Bainbridge.

It is a tribute to her strength and perserverance and an inspiration to the entire region. Her own parents are in awe of the accomplishment.

Her mother Tiffany said, "It's unreal, you know, it's not the way we wanted it to be, but the fact that she is here."

Her father added, "I mean as a dad, I couldn't be any happier than I am right now and I mean so I don't know, I mean it's just awesome, it sure could have been a lot different."

Samantha now plans to take on-line courses from the University of Akron, and hopes to eventually be strong enough to attend classes on campus.