The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Volleyball Adopts New Teammate
9/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB volleyball team added a new teammate to its squad over the weekend. Kaitlyn Weaver is a nine-year-old girl from Alabaster, Ala. who loves to paint, draw and sing; unfortunately, though, Kaitlyn doesn’t live the life of a normal little girl.
“In the short time that we’ve known Kaitlyn, she’s made a huge impact on the girls,” head coach Kerry Messersmith said. “Her positive outlook on life is a real inspiration.”
After her fifth birthday, Kaitlyn started having severe bleeds. Her parents took her to the hospital and that led to the diagnosis of Von Willebrand’s disease which requires her to use a medi-port to infuse a clotting factor.
Things continued to worsen for Kaitlyn. At her sixth birthday, her ear drum was perforated and that led to six different ear surgeries. A year later at her seventh birthday, she fell and sprained her left foot which led to surgery and 18 months of pain and swelling.
Kaitlyn was finally sent to a rheumatologist who performed an MRI and was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis (JRA), a form of progressive arthritis due to chronic inflammation of the joints.
After she was given a steroid injection that would hopefully alleviate the pain in her foot, she got extremely sick with skin infections. She was immediately sent to a genetics doctor and an infectious disease doctor who diagnosed her with Ehler Danlos Syndrome, which is a defect in her collagen defect.
Kaitlyn has been chosen to see world experts at the National Institute of Health and they will test her for rare genetic mutations that may be causing these medical anomalies. They are the best when it comes to undiagnosed diseases and the hope is that Kaitlyn can be diagnosed correctly with the right treatment.
Doctors have reported that Kaitlyn’s data is the first of its kind in many ways and will be published as ‘Kaitlyn’s Disease’ due to being the first child known with these symptoms.
Team IMPACT and the UAB volleyball team joined forces and drafted Kaitlyn to become an official member of the team on Friday, Sept. 23. She was joined by her parents, twin brother and grandparents for her draft day. After the ceremony, Kaitlyn was the guest of honor and sang the National Anthem before the match against Middle Tennessee. To watch the video click here.
“When we first met Kaitlyn she told us her story and faced her challenges head on. She’s fun, energetic, and definitely a fighter,” sophomore libero Emily Martinez said. “It’s been great having her on our team, and we will continue to support her through her obstacles.”
The team embraced Kaitlyn as one of their own. Through Team IMPACT, a child joins a team and the student-athletes join the child’s support team. The volleyball players have enjoyed having Kaitlyn as a part of the team. They even went to her birthday party where Kaitlyn said they danced a lot. She also went on to say, “I like that the girls check on me when I don’t feel good. It’s fun having sisters.”
"We are so excited to have Kaitlyn as a part of our team. She makes a difference in how we view life and our own day-to-day challenges,” junior outside hitter Haley Jared said. “She is a very strong and an independent girl that has taught us a lot about how to be a fighter. We are extremely happy to welcome her into our Blazer family."
