In January 2019, at the age of 27, Hailey was driving at night when she hit a patch of ice on the road, causing her to lose control and her car to rollover. She broke her spine in three places, leaving her paralyzed from lower back down.
Since her accident, Hailey has made big steps to leave bad situations behind and strive for overall health. Her biggest being moving to Crested Butte, Colorado, where she found an awesome adaptive program. Although she didn’t grow up doing much in athletics, Hailey excelled on physical tests as a now paralyzed athlete. She channeled her recovery process through sport and the support of a community. This past winter was her first season skiing and she loved it. Now, Hailey not only wants to pursue skiing at the Paralympic level, she’s also interested in pursuing rafting as well as triathlons.
As a new athlete, Hailey wants to learn how to treat her body, train hard, and learn what it takes to be at the top of her game overall. She has a long career ahead of her and wants to make sure she’s starting off with a great foundation to maximize her potential and stay injury-free.
