User:Manda380

By Shannon Frohardt

Manda Bartlett

Is a survivor, author, mother and student. Her sister, who died of cancer when Manda was just 15, was a very influential person in Manda's life. She taught Manda the importance of education; overcoming adversity; standing up for herself and her beliefs; and, to never let anything come in the way of her dreams.

She decided to go back to school in December of 2009 after her son, Preston, (born in the 7th month of pregnancy) was stillborn due to complications from H1N1 resulting in pneumonia, MRSA and blood poisoning. She was so sick that she was put into a medically-induced coma and when she left the hospital she could not write,walk or even feed herself. Although her doctors told her it would take six months to a year to regain her strength and get her life back. Instead, she worked hard and regained her strength in three months.

Manda is working on her Bachelor‟s Degree in Psychology and will graduate in 2012. She became interested in psychology when she was diagnosed with agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is a fear of open spaces and she had a fear so big, she was afraid to leave her room. Like every other challenge before her, agoraphobia was no match for Manda. After battling agoraphobia for over 14 years, she found a way to overcome her fear and is now using her knowledge to help others. Currently, Manda is a published author, having written the book, “Outside These Four Walls: The Life of an Agoraphobic.” Manda hopes her book will help others realize life doesn‟t have to be that way. On the contrary, with a lot of hard work, motivation, and cognitive behavioral therapy, it can be overcome.

Manda home-schools her children; Haley aged 13 and Tyler who is 11. She believes education is important, saying, “You are never too old to learn! “ She believes that even though school is challenging, it is not impossible to complete, even if you have children. Having the support of family and friends helps a great deal as does taking some time for yourself. When she does have downtime, Manda enjoys a bubble bath, writing, reading, watching movies, and chatting with her friends.

After she graduates in December 2012, Manda plans to obtain her Master‟s degree and eventually her doctorate. She plans to use her degrees to work as a school counselor and to aid her in her volunteer work with abused or neglected children as well as abused, substance-abused and runaway teens. She won the Student of Promise award from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars for her volunteer work! As shown through her perseverance and strength, overcoming all obstacles that have come her way, Manda is a very strong, self-motivated person. She is very goal-oriented; setting goals for achievement that she breaks down into smaller steps to obtain.--Manda380 (talk) 16:10, 3 October 2011 (UTC)