The article many of you have waited for

It's called liability. They would lose their insurance/liability coverage if she played and had Marfan's.

It would seem to me that, if she had any condition, including but not limited to Marfan, that would preclude her from ever playing competitively, there would be no logical reason for the university not announcing it. Furthermore, she would have been diagnosed a year ago, and it would make no sense to redshirt her and have her scholarship count against your maximum number. I'm sure there is a methodology whereby the university can honor her scholarship, but not have it count toward the limit. Furthermore, she still has 4 years of eligibility. If the public thinking is that she's going to play, that could adversely affect recruiting of bigs in 2020 and 2021. The same restrictions that preclude her medical situation being communicated to the fan base also dictate that recruits couldn't be told either. So you would have to leave them with the impression that she's going to play those 4 years as well. That doesn't make sense if she can't possibly do so.

If her career was over, the university would announce it, just as they report injuries. Nobody was kept in the dark about Kat's injury, for example. Had that been more than season ending, it would have been announced that her career was over once it was positive that was, indeed, the case. If Andrea was never going to be cleared to play, that would have been known last Fall.

So, whatever it is, I have to think they still believe, or at least hope with some basis for hope, that she's going to play for Oregon State.

I have a friend who has Marfan syndrome and who also is an advocate for individuals with this syndrome.
I asked her to explain it to me from the point of view of athletics....
Here is her reply...

"Marfan's doesn't exist on a spectrum. If you have the genetic mutation, you have Marfan's Syndrome.
How the gene is expressed can vary between individuals because of the rest of your genetic code, but most of the variation is skeletal rather than cardiac in nature.
I am in several forums and Marfan support groups, and everyone with Marfan's, at some time in their life, develops the cardiac issues. The only difference seems to be when, and the degree of stress put on the heart and major arteries is often the deciding factor for that.
There are several other connective disorders that have been misidentified as Marfan's because there are similarities in the expression. Identifying exactly which one it is requires genetic testing.

Participation in sports is very much individualized. High-impact (eg. triathalons) and contact sports (eg. American football) are out because of the risks.
I do know of one adult male marfling who is a short distance runner, and there are several (also adult males) who lift weights. I fence at the Master's level, but fencing is a 'slower' sport with shorter bouts and matches than soccer or basketball. I also know what my limits are and don't go beyond them. Mostly I work on the coaching side of it with the really small kids.
Some marflings swim or play baseball, but none of the ones I know do any sports competitively.

Most of the questions about sports on the forums are from parents wanting to know what their children with Marfan's can do, and basketball and football are what tend to be the sports in question. The answer from doctors to both is usually 'no.

I know basketball coaches want tall players and people with Marfan's often have the height they are looking for, but nobody should be risking their life and health for a sport. If a coach suspects a player has Marfan's, s/he should be urging that player to go see their GP for a referral to a cardiologist and geneticist for testing and then do what the doctor(s) tell them.. The top expert on Marfan's in the world is Dr. Tirone David, who is a tenured Full Professor at U Toronto. Both are really nice people and easy to talk to." [end of letter]
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This information is a bit technical, but it also is informative....I am sending it along to fellow Beaver fans simply to enhance our collective knowledge of the topic......
GO BEAVS !!