Kelsey’s transformation: From stroke survivor to motivational speaker

“When I woke up after my stroke, all I wanted was to be normal again,” recalls Kelsey Tainsh. Normal — as in a healthy teen athlete who could brush her teeth and shower on her own, who wasn’t wheelchair-bound, who wasn’t compelled to hide her paralyzed right hand in her pocket everywhere she went, one who hadn’t lost all of her high school friends except for her two triplet sisters. Now, this world-champion athlete not only learned to walk and talk again but also to embrace her differences. “Our hardest obstacles can be our biggest opportunities,” she says. Kelsey’s first taste of being different came at age 5. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor — an optic pathway pilocytic astrocytoma. Her parents brought her from their home in Winter Park, Florida, to Boston Children’s Hospital for treatment — surgery and radiation. “It wasn’t a big deal. I wore a baseball cap to cover my scar and got back on with my life pretty quickly,” she says. Kelsey sailed through elementary school, even nabbing a speaking gig at age 11, when she helped the Make-A-Wish Foundation raise more than $250,000. She also dug into her passion for sports, earning a spot on the high school varsity volleyball team in seventh grade, becoming a world-champion wakeboarder at 13 and rowing crew with her state-champion school team. She had found her niche. Or so she thought. Kelsey’s world changed at age 15. Her brain tumor returned. She was back at Boston Children’s for a sec...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Our Patients’ Stories Brain tumor Mark Rockoff R. Michael Scott stroke Source Type: news