Meet Emme ‘Wolverine’ Rooney

Rooney’s young classmate was perceptive enough to make the connection between the two processes. “The comparison between Wolverine and a young girl with psoriasis adds more of a positive connotation to the disease, rather than viewing it as a problem,” Rooney says. “There is currently no cure to my psoriasis, so I knew I had to overcome viewing my disease in a negative light, or else I would continue to be insecure with my body.”

Although Rooney felt secure internally about her psoriasis, she did have to confront other aspects of her disease that she never anticipated – like this one certain day during basketball practice that she remembers well.

“Keep your head on a swivel,” the coach yelled to the girls’ basketball team. They were on defense. The coach was using a common term that meant the players should keep looking back and forth from the person they were defending to the ball, while also watching out for potential screens, passes, or rebounding opportunities. In other words, look for everything all at once.

Eventually, Rooney could no longer turn her head without causing the fiery red psoriasis plaques on her neck to crack and bleed. In pain and with tears welling in her eyes, she tried for the rest of practice to remain unnoticed by her coach and appear to be moving her head.

Exiting the steaming hot gym that day, Rooney confronted the harsh realization that her psoriasis might not be mentally holding her back, but it was physically holding her back. Then she remembered what being Wolverine had taught her. She had to be resilient and move forward on her journey, no matter what the next challenge was.

It is not surprising, then, that Rooney’s mind immediately went back to Wolverine when she was faced with writing a college application essay about surmounting an obstacle.

“I am not a superhero, but I am a ‘psuperhero.’ The letter ‘P’ is silent, as is my body’s response to treatment,” she wrote in her essay.

“I wanted to talk about my experience with psoriasis and how I have achieved success while managing my disease,” she said about her essay. “I have overcome many challenges in my life that were caused by psoriatic disease, and I felt the need to express that overcoming it is possible.”

It seems that her honest essay impressed the admissions department at DePauw University. Next year she will attend the school in Greencastle, Indiana, where she plans to major in global health and play on the women’s basketball team.

To date Rooney has tried several different systemic treatments for her psoriasis, with varying results. She is currently exploring a new option and hoping for better results and fewer side effects than in the past. She uses topicals to manage her symptoms until she finds a systemic option that works.

Although her Wolverine nickname has faded, Rooney still holds onto the insights that it gave her. There are plenty of times when her symptoms make her feel insecure or cause pain, but Rooney knows she has the strength and the psuperpowers to live with psoriasis and manage it the best she can.