Thankful to be alive: Tarleton student forges new path after bout with bacterial meningococcal meningitis.
- Sara Vanden Berge
- 2 minutes ago
- 4 min read
TSU Media Relations
Special to Beneath the Surface News
Life is full of unexpected twist and turns, with some being bigger challenges than others.
Hannah Reyling experienced this firsthand on Feb. 29, 2024. Two days earlier, bouncing back from a bout with allergies and a sinus infection, Reyling was feeling good enough to play in a kickball game with her beloved sorority sisters.
After the game, however, she began to feel ill again, and just 48 hours later she fell into a coma that would last 12 days.
Just inside the Montague County line sits Saint Jo, Texas, a small town of less than 1,000 that is home for Reyling and where she spent her first 18 years.
She graduated with just 24 in her senior class, in a community where everyone knows everyone going back generations.
Growing up in a small school, Hannah played multiple sports showcasing her athletic talents, with volleyball being the frontrunner.
The 5-foot-7, four-year varsity starter had a burning passion for the game that eventually carried into her college days, just in a new form.
While she showcased her skills on the hardwood, she also showed her strength in track and field. Focused on weighted events, Reyling competed in both shot put and discus throw.
Graduating in the spring of 2021 Reyling looked to stay close to home, enrolling at Texas Woman’s University in Denton.
However, Tarleton State University had always been on her radar since her older sister attended and earned her nursing degree in 2022.
Reyling had always loved the energy of the campus, and her parents knew it well before she brought up the idea of heading there.
After a year at Texas Woman’s, she knew it was time to make a move. She reconnected with a former co-worker and the pair decided to room together, a decision that would prove lifesaving some months down the road.
The fall of 2022 brought a new start as a Tarleton State Texan.
Following that night of kickball, Reyling let her parents know that she was not feeling well. She called her co-worker at Sky High Volleyball and then went to bed thinking she might be coming down with strep again, a yearly occurrence for her.
The next morning, things felt more dire than a suspected case of strep. She mustered up just enough energy to call in to work, and her parents grew worried when she wasn’t responding to their texts. That’s when they called her roommate, Audrey Kubis, and asked her to check on Hannah.
When she entered her room, everything appeared normal except for the purple dots that had appeared on her face.
Reyling recalls Kubis asking her, “Did you mark on your face with purple marker?” To which she replied, “That's a stupid question — no!”
Audrey then took a picture and sent it to Hannah's mom.
“My mom’s a nurse, and she’d never seen anything like that before,” continued Reyling. “She said, ‘That's not chicken pox or anything like that — you need to take her to the ER.’”
By this time, she was unable to walk on her own and Kubis had to help her to the car to make their way to the emergency room.
Upon arrival the staff quickly realized the severity of Reyling’s condition.
“The front desk receptionist sees Audrey trying to carry me in and she brings a wheelchair out for me,” said Hannah.
She was taken back to be evaluated while Kubis filled out paperwork with the help of Reyling’s mom on the phone. She recalls being thirsty and not being allowed water in case she needed emergency surgery.
“I was just so out of it. I now know that’s because meningitis affects your brain and your spinal cord, and that’s why I couldn’t walk. It got to a point where they weren’t going to give me water, so I went to sleep. I woke up 12 days later at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.”
Doctors discovered that Reyling was suffering from bacterial meningococcal meningitis, a disease that can cause serious complications or even death and can leave victims with life-altering physical changes.
Hannah developed sepsis, and the decision was made to amputate both legs, her left hand and most of the fingers on her right hand.
She was able to keep her right thumb, which she is grateful for since she is right-handed and having a thumb allows her to have more independence and to do the little things like scrolling social media and sending texts to friends and family.
“I don’t remember much from the first month and a half I was in the hospital,” she said.
“I do remember some points like the day I had my amputations. I didn't really know what was going on, but I knew I was having surgery. If I didn't have my amputations, I would have died, so I am grateful that my parents made that hard decision for me because that’s hard, seeing your young child going through everything.”
Weeks of rehab followed for the then first-semester junior on her path to recovery and a new normal.
Thankful to be alive and with her closest family and friends around her praying, Reyling was able to return on June 19, 2024, to her close-knit community in Saint Jo.
“Since my community is so small, they had the volunteer fire department lead me to town. There were so many people in the square welcoming me home. It was a really important day for my family.”
Returning to Stephenville was the objective for Reyling following her unexpected detour in the spring of 2024.
“I always wanted to make it my goal to go back to college,” said Reyling.
“In my case, it’s very different because I know when people drop out, they typically don’t go back. My situation was different because an unexpected health issue caused me to step away. I knew I needed to return for myself — not just for my education, but for my mental health as well.”
Reyling and Kubis moved back in together in late spring 2025, and Reyling was back in the classroom just a few months later, on her way to a bachelor's degree in nutrition science with a concentration in dietetics.
“Coming back to Stephenville and Tarleton wasn’t just about finishing my degree, it was about coming home to people who see me the same way they always have,” she said.
“My friends, my roommate (and) my professors, they all treat me like Hannah, not what I’ve been through. That’s what gave me the courage to come back and keep going.”
