Melissa Berg is not the girl on the sidelines wearing knee braces.

Braces make her feel like she can't run.

Melissa Berg is not the girl on the sidelines cheering on her teammates during penalty kick shootouts.

She's one of the five shooters preparing to take a shot at the goal.

Melissa Berg is not the girl on the sidelines watching other Kelly Walsh High School seniors celebrate their graduation with yearbook signing, senior pranks and parties.

Despite missing nearly her entire sophomore year, Melissa will graduate on time with - fingers crossed - a 3.5 grade point average.

It has become difficult to pick out Melissa from the hundreds of other graduating seniors, though the 18-year-old used to go to a school in a wheelchair, her face yellow with jaundice and puffy from steroids.

On Tuesday, Melissa attended her last day of high school dressed in a brown cotton dress and a peace sign necklace with the symptoms of jaundice long gone and her swollen body back to that of a thin teenager. She ran from friend to friend gathering signatures.

"So I heard you are a survivor," good friend Evan Fries wrote in her yearbook.

Sure, Melissa survived autoimmune hepatitis, two liver transplants and dozens of complications. But people might call "survivor" an understatement.

Melissa, who spent most of her 15th year on her deathbed and two more years dealing with side-effects, has fought to not only survive her illness but thrive in its aftermath.

At 18, she has already lived three lives: before illness, illness and after illness.

Now, Melissa said it's time to focus on life after illness.

Surviving

Melissa became sick in June 2006 at a soccer tournament, and on July 17, 2006, she was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, a disease in which the immune system attacks the liver.

A week later, the 15-year-old's condition worsened, and Sally and Harold Berg rushed their daughter to the emergency room. Early the next morning, Wyoming Medical Center flew the girl to Denver Children's Hospital.

There, Melissa waited on the transplant list - twice. She received her first liver transplant Sept. 1, 2006, but her body rejected the organ. By early October her condition had deteriorated so much, she was put back on the list and received a second transplant Dec. 5, 2006.

Back home, people were unsure if she would make it. Teachers at Kelly Walsh prepared themselves to handle a tragedy.

Fortunately, the second transplant was successful, and Melissa soon began the road to recovery, first by returning to Casper in January 2007. Her journey had just begun, though, as she dealt with complications at home. Anti-rejection drugs damaged her knees. She lost hair, gained weight from steroids and still missed school.

Sally Berg said they went to Denver every month in 2007 except May and September. The family feared Melissa would reject the liver.

Melissa feared she would never be able to play soccer again.

Just as she and her family battled autoimmune hepatitis, they battled the side-effects of almost losing Melissa.

Now, much of the illness seems to be in the Bergs' past.

"Nurses who worked with her don't even recognize her," Sally said. "She looks like nothing happened."

It's hard to believe what did happen, Sally said, as she looked at Melissa's senior pictures scattered across the living room table next to unfinished graduation announcements.

Living

Though Melissa's health has drastically improved, reminders of the ordeal creep up almost daily.

"This illness took its toll emotionally and physically," Sally said. "Her knees are still an issue. They give her a lot of pain."

Melissa plays soccer everyday, because it's what she loves. She usually plays with pain, and on rainy, cooler days, the pain is worse.

She scoffed at doctors when they tried to tell her she couldn't play again.

"I've done it for so long, it's hard to imagine not doing it," Melissa said. "I started when I was 5, and it became a big part of my life when I was 9. Right before I got sick, I decided to devote my life to it."

So her battle continued.

Relenting to her determination, doctors told her she could play, but she had to limit other physical activity.

"Finally the orthopedic surgeon said, 'Go live you life. When your knees start to bother you in your day-to-day living, we'll get you some new ones,'" Sally said.

"If you love it enough, you play," Melissa said. "It's the thing that makes me the happiest."

Melissa said she has to compensate for her weak knees, but she is stronger. She took an advanced physical education class this school year to prepare for soccer.

Mom's translation of compensate: "She can't maul people down."

Stomach pains, nausea or fevers immediately make the family think the worst. In March, Melissa came into her parents' room grabbing her stomach complaining of severe pain.

"What side it is?" Sally asked, panicked.

"My left," Melissa said.

Whew, the liver is on the right side.

It turned out to be kidney stones. Melissa laughed at the doctor, because kidney stones she could handle.

Melissa's illness affected the big decision of where she would go to college. She looked at Colorado College in Colorado Springs and the University of Wyoming.

She was accepted to UW and up until the last minute had decided to become a Cowgirl. She filled out the paperwork and chose her meal plan. All she needed was a check for the $100 reservation fee.

One night Sally received a call from Melissa.

"Can I stay one more year, Mom?" Melissa asked, and her decision to go to Casper College was finalized.

"I missed a year at home," Melissa said. "Hopefully, I can get healthy enough to play soccer somewhere as a sophomore."

Like many 18-year-olds, Melissa is not sure what she wants as a career, but she might study international relations or medicine.

Unlike many parents, Sally and Harold Berg aren't too worried their daughter hasn't declared a major. They want her to relax after everything she has been through.

Thriving

Melissa's teachers aren't likely to stop talking about her story soon.

Leslie Vandeventer, Melissa's French teacher of four years, shows everyone her favorite photograph from a recent school trip to France: a picture of Melissa and her mom on the plane coming back from the 10-day spring break trip.

People question Vandeventer about why an airplane picture is her favorite.

"It's just a mom and a daughter, but that's why it's my favorite picture," Vandeventer said. "It just shows so much. I think it was a dream come true for Melissa and I think for her mom, too."

Melissa, her mom and aunt went to museums, saw the French countryside and ordered food in French.

Melissa admits she didn't eat much French cuisine but instead saved her money for European fashion.

Jerry Realing, her soccer coach, said Melissa's story has motivated his team.

"Ever since it happened, I kind of bought into the power of Melissa Berg," Realing said. "No matter what doctors said, what nature tried to do to her, if Mel says it's going to happen, it's going to happen.

"In the future, any time I have an athlete that says they can't do something, Melissa Berg is going to come up, whether they remember her story or not."

On the field, it's difficult to tell the difference between Melissa, number 10, and her fellow teammates.

She earned her spot on the team just like everyone else and she plays just as hard, if not harder. Her teammates and coaches don't baby her, either.

"I want to knock Mel B. down," Realing said during a drill at last week's practice.

Then, her best friend, Kayla Fakelman, pulled on Melissa's jersey trying to get a better position on the defensive player. She almost knocked Melissa to the ground.

The same goes for games. She stands tall when an opponent tries to slide tackle her and runs the entire length of the field just to congratulate a teammate on scoring a goal.

She shares time with a girl who also has bad knees, which she doesn't mind.

Soccer has been a big part of May. The rest has been a whirlwind.

She studied for Advanced Placement exams in French, history and English, but nixed prom despite having a new boyfriend.

At Monday's senior award ceremony, Melissa won an award for "determination and being nice" - although she admitted the plaque she received said it more eloquently.

She lost her yearbook amid a sea of fellow Trojans on Tuesday but found it again to see it filled with "English class was fun," "Keep in touch" and "Go Trojans."

She collected her white cap and gown that she said will make them all look like clouds.

"You focus on right now instead of the future," Melissa said about living through her illness. "You might not have a future if you get sick."

Right now, Melissa's focus is on the Wyoming State High School Soccer Championships in Sheridan.

"Coach always tells us to play like it is our last game," Melissa said. "I almost had that as a freshman and I didn't even know it."

This weekend will be Melissa's last game as a Kelly Walsh Lady Trojan.

If she has anything to say about it - she's told off doctors and worried parents before - it won't be the last time she touches a soccer ball, though.

She might need knee replacements or at least knee braces, but Melissa will continue to play the game she loves long into the future.

Contact health reporter Allison Rupp at (307) 266-0534 or allison.rupp@trib.com.