New beginnings are on the horizon for redshirt freshman middle blocker Kelsey Maloney.
Maloney e-mailed Wisconsin volleyball head coach Pete Waite two seasons ago saying she fell in love with Wisconsin and playing in a Badger uniform would be a dream come true.
Yet Waite realized the Centreville, Va., native had a long way to go before she stepped foot on the UW Field House floor. After nearly three years of recovering from illness and injury, Maloney is now back in shape and finding her groove with the Badgers.
""She didn't play for the last two years,"" Waite said after Wisconsin's first spring match of the year last Saturday. ""She's really now getting onto the court and it's some of the first ball she's been playing. If you really look at those things, we're just trying to get experience on the court and that's what they did today.""
Maloney's health troubles date back to the summer of 2006.
""At the beginning of my junior year, I had played a month [of the high school season] and got sick with a cold that turned into pneumonia,"" Maloney said. ""When my lungs got better, I was still extremely weak, wiped out, fatigued, achy everywhere.""
She next started getting headaches and still couldn't yet complete a full day's worth of classes at school. After three weeks on bed rest, Maloney said the doctors were confused as to why her condition hadn't improved. At the end of December, her doctors finally officially diagnosed Maloney with Lyme disease.
And then, the numbness set in.
""I got it in my toes and it went all up my body,"" Maloney said. ""At points, I felt like I couldn't lift my legs up … It would take me 20 minutes to climb up the stairs, so I'd have to scoot myself up.""
Aside from the headaches, fatigue and body numbness, Maloney said the most frightening experiences of the disease were the neurological effects.
""A lot of that time I don't even remember because I was so out of it,"" Maloney said. ""My mom said I couldn't complete sentences. Your memory gets ‘snatched'—that's what the term is I guess.""
Maloney then wore a PIC (peripherally inserted central catheter line)—a permanent IV into her left bicep from January to May, through which she was given fluids five days a week.
Yet, despite her deteriorated health, Maloney tried to keep in contact with her Virginia Elite club team.
""I would go, at first once every other week or once every two weeks to practice to see my friends, but even driving there was rough,"" Maloney said. ""As I started feeling better, I would go to practices more, but I still wouldn't do anything.
In June 2007, normally time for Club Nationals, Maloney was able to take a vacation to northwestern Wisconsin to visit family along the St. Croix River. Along the way, she swung through Madison—precisely when she fell in love with the campus.
At the end of July, Maloney was readmitted to the hospital. One surgically removed gall bladder and five days' worth of complications because of almost a full year's worth of IV medications later, Maloney was forced to remain inactive for 10 days—a diagnosis Maloney had become quite used to.
Luckily for Maloney, on the 11th day after surgery, practice for her Westfield High School squad began.
Maloney e-mailed Pete Waite, asking him to consider offering a spot on the Badgers team to the Virginia native. One of the Badger assistant coaches came to watch her play and just like that, Maloney was offered a spot with the Badgers.
Then, lightning struck for the third time. Just as Maloney was getting stronger, she acquired a stress fracture in her back that put her in a protective brace for four more months.
Finally, Maloney is as healthy as she has been in four years. And, while still a bit rusty, she is itching to get on the court.
With her first UW scrimmage under her belt, the water sports enthusiast can't wait for the summer so she can experience all the swimming and water skiing she can handle.
""I haven't gone to do any of the water stuff yet because it's been frozen, but I'm ready for this summer,"" Maloney said.
Waite will probably be praying that Maloney doesn't incur any life-threatening illnesses, break any bones or rupture any more internal organs. Because when one is that prone to injury, one needs all the help she can get.
