BY Alex Vickery, Editor
Senior Mackenzie Curran stands in a circle with four other P.E. leaders during her third block P.E. Leadership class.
They’re laughing and smiling as they pass a volleyball around the circle while other kids are shooting hoops and playing catch.
These past two years haven’t been easy for Curran, who suffered from a arteriovenous malformation or AVM in 2009 that caused stroke-like symptoms, is still recovering and is now a fifth-year senior. But doing things like coaching the freshmen volleyball team and riding bikes during P.E. Leadership are “excellent” for her, Sue Curran, Mckenzie’s mother, said.
Curran is in a unique position: she is both a P.E. leader and working on regaining lost academic, speech and volleyball skills.
Twice a week, Curran goes to speech and physical therapy outside of school. At school, she has speech therapy for two hours a week, occupational therapy one hour week and physical therapy for 45 minutes a week. She does almost ten hours a week of activities and works on reading, speech and stretching exercises at home.
One of the hardest things for Curran to do is talk, and it’s one of the most challenging things she’s had to overcome.
“She wishes she could talk like she used to. Some of her old friends don’t know what to do or say, and she just wants to hang out and talk like old times with friends. She says she’s still the same person inside,” Sue Curran, Mackenzie’s mother, said.
The once talkative senior is still regaining her speaking abilities and is now able to say a few words at a time—an improvement from just last year. Walking is another big challenge Mackenzie Curran has had to overcome.
“The first three weeks, we weren’t sure if she’d ever walk or talk again. Kenzie knew us, but we didn’t know what she really understood or remembered. Then by leaps and bounds she started improving,” Sue Curran said.
Although Mac—a nickname her volleyball teammates shouted on the court when she did a “Mac Attack”—can’t fully play volleyball like when she was on the Kaneland varsity team, she is coaching the freshmen team and assisting Coach Breanne Kahl.
“When we found out she would be here again [this year] and wanted to stay involved, we thought that it was a perfect way for her to stay involved by helping with the younger girls,” Kahl said.
Curran is a very positive coach and cheers really loud for the team, Kahl said. Curran said all the team does is “win, win, win.”
“Besides logistics, she’s been a huge inspiration for all the girls on the team,” Kahl said.
To help support Curran and her family, a former student from Geneva and a former club volleyball teammate made “We Heart Mackenzie” t-shirts, and Kaneland graduate 2011 Alyson Rehr made bracelets to sell.
Curran’s reaction? “Touched,” she said.
Her story is one that has touched many others as well. DeKalb’s varsity volleyball team asked to wear the “We Heart Mackenzie” shirts, and so did Augustana’s team. She was also interviewed for ESPN.
“Mackenzie hopes to attend Lincoln College next year. She has many years of recovery ahead of her, but she improves everyday and our hope is for a full, dramatic recovery,” Sue Curran said.
To everyone who has supported Curran over the past two years, all she has to say is two words: “Thank you.”