“Lauren has a passion for the American Paint Horse like I have never seen,” Janel Faust, a friend of the 19 year-old, Illinois native, said. “Her dedication to showing and riding her horses is her reason for living. Horses and showing truly keep her alive.”
Lauren Michelle Kelly was recently named the winner of the AjPHA (American Junior Paint Horse Association) Youth Member of the Year Award. “It is the biggest honor I could ever imagine. The APHA requires you (the nominee) to fill out a questionnaire and submit an essay and SAT scores, but I only did it because of the nagging of a few close friends,” Kelly said. “I had considered doing it, but I didn’t like the fact that I had to ‘toot my own horn.’ I thought it should be a nomination-only award. But, after a few people asked me to do it, I figured, ‘Why not?’”
Kelly is glad she listened to her friends. “I won a Gist belt buckle and a $1,000 scholarship.”
Lauren got a late start showing horses. Her first Paint show was in November of 2004 when she was 13. Connie Sheppard of Bethalto, Illinois is the individual who got her started in showing Paints and was always like a second mother to her. Lauren currently trains with John Kayser of Edwardsville, Illinois. “John and his clients are wonderful and embody a team ethic,” Kelly said. “We all help each other and John goes above and beyond to ensure that I have enough energy to get through my classes.”
Lauren’s fight to stay healthy is a daily task. At the age of three months old, she was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation website (www.cff.org),Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections; and obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food.
Due to Lauren having CF, she was told not to be around horses because of the dust and the risk to her lungs. “But the heart wants what the heart wants,” Kelly admits. “I was allergic to horses, and I broke out in hives every time I touched them. Slowly but steadily, I overcame the allergy.”
Kelly’s life mission is to make sure that no one will be able to look at her and say, “Yeah, that girl has CF.” She explains that she loves horses because “they symbolize freedom and victory for me. I never feel like I have CF when I’m on the back of a horse.”
This college sophomore goes on to say,”All of my life, doctors have been telling me what I cannot (or should not) do. I could not be around horses, because I was allergic. I can’t run, because some of the medications I have taken have damaged my joints. I can’t play contact sports, because of the risk they pose to my infusion port. I’ve always been told what I cannot do. My motto has always been to say, ‘I can do anything I set my mind to.’ I believe the only real barriers in life are ones that you yourself have put up. How high you have to climb to get over those barriers is different for each of us. But it can be done!”
The IjPHC President shows in the all-around events with her current equine partner, Sheik Sock Broker (Chaps). Just last week, she placed 8th in Youth Team Tournament Equitation at 2010 APHA Summer World Show. She also won the 2007 Illinois Novice Youth High Point All Around Title with her former mount, A Good Reflection. “I love the Hunter Under Saddle. Part of the reason is my horse, of course. It’s Chaps best event. I also love trail, but we’re still working on getting Chaps to love it as much as I do.”
Her future equine goals involve completing her APHA Youth Championship on Chaps. “If my health will cooperate,” she says. “If I do that, I will be content.”
Kelly has to do airway clearance breathing treatments up to two hours daily. She also maintains an extremely complicated regimen of daily oral and nebulized medications to simply sustain her life.
“Packing up for a show for Lauren is twice the job it is for the rest of us as she must take all her medical equipment as well as her horse equipment. Lauren has a gastrostomy feeding tube which sustains her nutritional status while she is sleeping,” Faust said. “Her metabolic needs are so great, due to her lung disease, that she cannot eat enough food to maintain her weight. This means that she rides and shows with a permanent tube in her abdomen, hooking up to a tube feeding every night for extra calories. She also has an implanted infusion port in her right chest that is accessed for frequent IV antibiotic administration.”
Faust adds, “Her doctors have designed a custom chest protector to cover the Huber needle in her right chest infusion port so she can continue to ride and show when accessed for IV antibiotics. When she competed at the APHA Youth World Show in 2008, she was receiving a very strong antibiotic, Amikacin, through her infusion port,” she said. “She was in the hospital a week before the 2010 World Show receiving life saving treatments and antibiotics. One of the many side effects of that medication resulted in the permanent loss of most of the hearing in her left ear. It has not slowed Lauren down; she is unstoppable. Her doctors are simply amazed by her physical abilities and her drive.”
In February of 2006, Kelly had part of her right lung removed. It was determined that the upper lobe was not functioning anymore, and her body was busy fighting the bacterial colonization in that lung. “I was not growing and could not gain weight because all of my body’s energy was being spent trying to heal a lung that would not heal. The doctors theorized that removing the diseased portion of the lung would allow my body to grow. The doctors were right,” Kelly said. “I went into the surgery at a height of 4’9,” and today I stand 5’7!””
Kelly is currently a college sophomore at Lewis and Clark Community College where she is majoring in Nursing and Graphic Design. “My heart is with graphics. I’ve been doing it since I was 13, and it never ceases to amaze me. I love every aspect of design,” she says. “Everything is so unique, and there’s hardly ever a wrong way to do art!”
She currently runs her own graphic design business, LMKdesign.org and you can see many of her ad designs in GoMag. Lauren does print design, logo design, and web design. She is starting to branch into photography as well. “I pride myself on working very fast. Most of the time my clients have the proofs the same day I receive the images.”
GoHorseShow.com congratulates Lauren on all of her accomplishments. If you would like to find out more about this amazing young lady and her graphic design business, contact her at Lauren@lmkdesign.org. or her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LMKdesignorg
