AWESOMENESS IN ABUNDANCE! Angeli VanLaanen overcomes Lyme disease to make Olympic Team! WAY TO GO GIRL!!!!

Angeli VanLaanen overcomes Lyme disease to make Olympic Team!

About Angeli VanLaanen: 

Angeli Vanlaanen is one of the top female freeskiers in the world. She was featured on the cover ofSkiing Magazine, in the pages of renowned skiing publications such as Powder Magazine and Freeskier Magazine, and competed in high level halfpipe events such as the X-Games and Dew Tour. After taking 3 years off from halfpipe for Lyme treatment, Angeli returned to competition and placed 6th at the FIS World Championships and is ranked 9th in the world on the AFP points list for the 2012-2013 season. Halfpipe skiing was recently added to the list of events to premier at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia 2014. Angeli’s dream of being an Olympian is possible now that she is symptom free and in remission.



                    LymeLight is a Lyme Disease awareness film that serves as an inspirational story

She is on the final Olympic selection event in ski halfpipe Saturday, capping one of the most inspiring runs to the U.S. Olympic Team across all sports.

VanLaanen, 28, took a three-year break from halfpipe skiing in 2009 to treat Lyme disease, which went misdiagnosed for 14 years. She released a 30-minute documentary about her treatment — “LymeLight” — last year.

"In VanLaanen’s words, “Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria attacking your body.” It is a tick-borne illness with effects ranging from flu-like symptoms and vertigo, to joint pain and neurological problems.

When VanLaanen was ten years old, a tick bit her. “I didn’t know to tell my mom that I had been bitten by a tick,” says VanLaanen. “I didn’t know that was a serious thing. When I went to the doctors, it was never brought up.”

Had she mentioned the bite, she would have received appropriate and timely medical treatment, squashing the disease and with it any negative effect it might have had on her body. But that’s not what happened; and for 14 years the bacteria silently waged war on her body.VanLaanen battled the Lyme flare-ups the best she could, and while progressing her skills on her skis during the disease’s dormant stages. A Bellingham, Washington native, she developed her solid ski foundation trailing her brother through the rich Big Mountain terrain at Mt. Baker. Her interest in park skiing didn’t begin until high school when she attended a ski camp in Whistler, B.C., Canada.

http://www.dewtour.com/actionsports/event/ion-breckenridge-mountain-championships-2013/news/healthy-hot-angeli-vanlaanen

“Being inspired by that experience, I decided that when I graduated high school I would move straight to Colorado to pursue my love of halfpipe skiing and park skiing. That’s where I honed my skills.”

A natural in the pipe, VanLaanen began competing and quickly ascended to the pro ranks. During that time, she tried to balance her performance on the mountain with the unexplained and unpredictable flare-ups. In 2008, when the symptoms were at their worst, VanLaanen had an especially devastating flare-up during the X Games. With an outstanding week of practice leading into the competition, VanLaanen secured herself as the favorite to win. On competition day, at the peak of one of her jumps, she suffered a spell of vertigo that derailed her performance, caused her to crash in the icy pipe and ruin her chance to place.

“That was a real tough bump in the road because there was no explanation,” VanLaanen explains. “The experience made me question my mental strength as an athlete.”

But in 2009, VanLaanen tested positive for Lyme – the explanation had come. At the recommendation of her doctors, VanLaanen stopped competing in halfpipe during treatment. After three years of vigorous treatment—which she chronicles in her self-produced documentary, Lymelight (embedded below)—she was diagnosed in remission in November 2012. She had her health back. While the timing of her diagnosis couldn’t have been any more devastating, her comeback couldn’t have been timed any better.

https://www.facebook.com/angeli.vanlaanen

VanLaanen is coming off a big second place finish in New Zealand earlier this season at the World Cup New Zealand Games. “It all came together for me in New Zealand,” she exclaims with ("HEALTHY & HOT, ANGELI VANLAANEN HEADS INTO DEW TOUR" http://www.dewtour.com/actionsports/event/ion-breckenridge-mountain-championships-2013/news/healthy-hot-angeli-vanlaanen)

On Saturday, VanLaanen needed a podium finish and posted a first-run score of 88.2 points. It held up to beat 10 women taking two runs. She joins Maddie Bowman and Brita Sigourney on the U.S. Olympic Team in ski halfpipe. 

I HOPE YOU ALL TUNE INTO SEE HER COMPETE IN THIS YEARS OLYMPICS & ROOT ON A TRUE HERO! A LYME WARRIOR AND SOON TO BE OLYMPIAN TOO! IT'S ONE OF THE MOST HOPEFUL & INSPIRING STORIES OF SURVIVAL I HAVE HEARD AND IT'S ONE OF MANY AMAZING AND STRONG LYME ADVOCATES I HAVE HEARD ABOUT IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS... I BELIEVE WE ARE NOT JUST VICTIMS BUT PART OF A GROWING MOVEMENT THAT WILL CAUSE CHANGE AND WILL SAVE LIVES EVENTUALLY - NOW IS THE TIME TO BATTLE ON MY FRIENDS & BE STRONG. IT'S COMING BUT 1ST WE HAVE TO BE THE CAUSE OF SOME SERIOUS CHANGE & IT'S NOT GOING TO BE EASY. GET SOME REST, GET SOME NUTRITION, & GET READY TO BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD. WE ARE WARRIORS UNITED AND WE WILL PREVAIL. I WISH YOU ALL NOTHING BUT THE BEST & MANY BLESSINGS. BE STRONG AND BE BACK HERE TOMORROW!!!! HAVE A HAPPY & HEALTHY WEEKEND. PEACE, AUDREY