Competitive Teen Runner Continues To Race Despite Devastating MS Diagnosis

If you are going to be successful as a competitive runner or in any competitive sport, you have to have the drive to keep going. Nobody knows this better than 14-year-old Kayla Montgomery, who lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

At a young age, she became an elite soccer player at school but during a game, she fell down. Nothing much was thought of it at the time but when she started having numbness in her feet and legs, a doctor was called.

After some tests, she was given a diagnosis and it was multiple sclerosis. According to ABC News, she admits that she was “really mad” at first, but rather than allowing herself to give up, she pressed forward and continued running.

As a degenerative nerve disease, MS can really keep you from moving as you should. As an athlete, however, she had the drive to keep going. Rather than sitting back and allowing the diagnosis to affect her negatively, she decided to get up and start running.

Although she had started out as a soccer player, she decided to take up long-distance running. She was slow at first but with dedication and hard work, she was able to start breaking records.

Her coach, Patrick Cromwell, assisted her through the progress. She joined every running team she could, including indoor track, outdoor track, and cross country. Not only does her coach help her run, he is there to catch her when she can’t run any longer.

As ABC News reported, when Kayla finishes a race, her legs are numb and she is unable to feel anything from the waist down. Her coach is standing there at the finish line, waiting to catch the young athlete as she crosses the line and is unable to either stop or slow down.

According to Runner Space, Kayla attended and graduated from Lipscomb University and was on their track and field team. She continues to run and to inspire everyone, from coaches to teammates and even the fans that come to watch her. Through it all, she is also raising money to help find a cure for multiple sclerosis.

You can watch more about Kayla, her recovery, and what she is able to do despite a life-changing illness in the following video:

You can keep up with Kayla today on Instagram, @k8yrae.