Sunee Schneider is a fighter.

You won’t find the senior sprinter and gymnast from Thomas Jefferson anywhere near a boxing ring, though. After a double kidney transplant, one in 2010 and the other in 2015, countless hours of dialysis and a battle with depression, Schneider fights every day to keep her dream of earning a 2017 state tournament berth in gymnastics alive.

The combination of surgery and dialysis forced Schneider to miss the last two seasons of gymnastics. But when the Raiders held tryouts in November, Schneider not only made the team, Jefferson coach Kellie Horrocks discovered Schneider was as talented as her veteran gymnasts.

Because of her double kidney transplant, one of Schneider’s kidneys faces in a more forward position than the other, which prevents her from competing in events like the balance beam, bars and pommel horse. Despite the restriction, Horrocks said Schneider will likely be one of Jefferson’s top gymnasts in the floor routine, with a potential to be a state competitor.

“Skill-wise, I didn’t know what to expect from someone who had been through so many major surgeries,” Horrocks said. “But she really just blew me away. She’s probably going to be one of our best floor competitors.

“And she’s just great to have in the gym. You never hear anything negative, pessimistic or discouraging out of her. She absolutely lives up to her name. I definitely think she was meant to have the name Sunee.”

Fighting from the get-go

Fighting for her life and dreams is just who Schneider is. She makes no apologies or excuses; instead, she smiles.

Each day, she relies on a quote from Hall of Fame boxer Muhammad Ali to help mold her positive personality and outlook.

Eager to share it, Schneider rapidly clicks through the deep confines of her cell phone.

She keeps a draft of the boxer’s words stored in its own folder, with nothing else to compete with it.

She said it’s not uncommon for her to look at the Ali quote multiple times a day. Sometimes when she really needs it, and other times when she’s just looking for a spark of inspiration.

“Ready?,” she asked with a burst of excitement. “‘Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them. A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.’”

Schneider said the quote is important to her because it serves as reminder to always push forward and always find the positives in any negative or challenging circumstances.

Schneider is no stranger to challenging circumstances.

She was born with a detached uterus, which forced her into immediate surgery as a newborn.

Schneider’s family was informed the combination of her detached uterus, in conjunction with the surgery to repair it, caused complications with her kidneys and she’d likely need a transplant at some point in her life.

And in 2010, as Schneider prepared to start middle school — the time came.

She began feeling abnormally tired, she’d fall asleep in class and not even realize it. Come to find out, her kidney was failing. In the months leading up to her surgery, Schneider was placed on a very specific diet, consisting primarily of water.

Prior to Schneider’s surgery on June 16, 2010, the question of who would donate his or her kidney was posed. The answer came almost faster than the question.

Carol Wilhelme, Schneider’s grandmother, volunteered posthaste. And after 10 months of undergoing extensive tests and evaluations, it was determined Wilhelme had the appropriate number of markers to give her kidney to her granddaughter.

“It was a real easy decision to make. I was just very hopeful we could be a match,” Wilhelme said. “I just wasn’t sure because me with my Nordic heritage and her being from India, sharing markers I thought might be remote.

“But the doctors said we did, and once I knew that, it was just making sure I was as healthy as I could be in order to do this.”

Wilhelme underwent extensive tests prior to the surgery. Everything from her kidneys, to her liver, cancer, genetic disorders, alcohol consumption, history of smoking and many more.

When it was determined that Wilhelme was healthy enough to donate her kidney, it was go time.

The two were operated on at the same time at two different hospitals, and Wilhelme’s kidney was rushed to Schneider’s location where she received the healthy organ.

“Yeah, on the day of the surgery, on the 16th, the doctors took the bad kidney and replaced it with my grandma’s kidney,” Schneider said. “After that, everything seemed different.”

Schneider had her normal life back.

She said she felt so much better. More importantly, she knew she could finally give sports a try.

It started with track. Then she went on to volleyball and any other sport she could try. Everything was good — until it wasn’t.

Back to the drawing board

Throughout her freshman year at Thomas Jefferson, things began to feel different again. Because of life, and quietly, a declining kidney, Schneider fell into a deep depression.

Life at a new school with new obstacles was too much.

“Things just weren’t going well,” she said. “I stopped taking my meds. I just wasn’t happy with myself. Because of the first surgery I wasn’t able to do things normal kids my age got to do. And my family thought we should maybe get things checked out.”

Blood tests revealed Schneider’s stats were on an incline when they should be on a decline.

Doctors discovered the kidney she received from from her grandmother was failing, and Schneider needed to go back on the transplant list.

On Sept. 24, 2015, Schneider received her second kidney in five years, this time from an anonymous donor.

Ed Wilhelme, Schneider’s grandfather, said while a second hospital trip wasn’t what the family hoped for, they were ready to help Schneider any way they could.

“We were ready,” he said. “It’s not like there are other options. This is what needs to be done, this is what you’re going to do. It’s real basic.”

For Carol Wilhelme it was different. She said ir was like the kidney she’d given somehow failed her granddaughter.

“I was met with a certain sadness because I was hoping mine would last longer,” Carol Wilhelme said. “But, it’s one of those things you know she was going to need another one at some point. Until maybe someday she’ll be able to grow her own kidney with her DNA. That would be best.”

The depression, in addition to the surgery forced Schneider to sit out her sophomore and junior seasons.

Schneider missed gymnastics so badly, she attempted to start her comeback her sophomore year.

Horrocks said she still remembers a very sickly-looking version of Schneider the day she showed up for tryouts. An image, Horrocks said, that still stays with her today.

Schneider was in the process of undergoing dialysis at the time. Horrocks remembered Schneider holding her urostomy bag, asking to try out for Raider gymnastics.

“She came to me two years ago and said she wanted to try out for gymnastics and I was like — great,” Horrocks recalled. “Then she showed me her urostomy bag she was hiding behind her back and I was like: ‘Sunee, that’s, that scares me.’ But she was determined to give it a shot.”

After going to the first few practices, Schneider pulled Horrocks aside and confessed she couldn’t physically give gymnastics her all, so she was leaving the team.

Horrocks invited Schneider to be a part of the team anyway. She was welcome to come to practice whenever she wanted, and Horrocks even offered her a team manager position, but Schneider declined.

Horrocks wouldn’t see or hear from Schneider again for two years.

“Because of dialysis, I just couldn’t do it, just couldn’t physically give my all. Mentally I was all there, but my body just didn’t work,” Schneider said. “And I didn’t want to do something, especially gymnastics, I couldn’t give 100 percent to. I can’t do that.”

Back with a vengeance

When Horrocks held fall tryouts on Nov. 17, one of the first faces she saw was Schneider’s.

She explained to Horrocks what she’d been through and that she was completely healthy and ready to try out.

Horrocks said she didn’t know what to expect from an athlete who didn’t have vast gymnastics experience.

Once Schneider began her tryout routine on the floor though, Horrocks said she was completely blown away.

“She had it all, like she’d been doing it for years with no gaps,” Horrocks said. “Not only that, but she brightens this room and this team with her smile. She’s everything you’d ever want in an athlete and human being.”

Horrocks said Schneider’s form and floor awareness is second to none because of how self-aware she is with her own body.

The two have only worked together for a few short weeks, but Horrocks said she pesters Schneider, regularly, mid-routine even, to make sure she’s OK.

Schneider said the ability to return to gymnastics has given her a heightened sense of freedom. She said it helps keep the depression at bay.

“When I do gymnastics, the flips and all that, I feel like I’m flying,” Schneider said. “My mind is away from everything. It’s a great feeling when I can do those things.”

Schneider said she knows the battle with her kidney will always be there, but she’s in good health now with some days better than others.

She has her eyes set on becoming a doctor or a nurse but hasn’t ruled out being a gymnastics teacher, either.

Schneider said she’s focused on her final gymnastics season at the moment, where she’ll certainly face challenges with both health and talented league opponents. But no matter what fight she finds herself in, Schneider said she always has words of advice from “The Greatest.”

“It’s all in the brain,” Schneider said of Ali’s quote. “When you do sports, when you have a test. The words can apply to anything. If I really want it, I put my heart in it and make it happen.”

Thomas Jefferson junior Sunee Schneider overcame a double kidney transplant. Now she’s tasked with mentoring the Raiders’ gymnastics program as an upperclassman. Contributed photo