Triumph Over Mystery Illness: Skier Angeli VanLaanen Heads to Sochi
While competing at the Aspen X Games in 2008, halfpipe skier Angeli VanLaanen was suddenly struck with vertigo during a high-risk aerial maneuver.
“It was extremely scary to be that high in the air, lose all sense of balance, and not know which way was up and down,” says the 28-year-old skier. At the time, she had been battling a debilitating mystery illness for more than a decade.
“I took a really hard, scary fall, that shook me up, but thankfully I wasn’t injured,” adds Angeli. She was finally diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease and took athree-year hiatus from her sport.
After recently earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic halfpipe ski team, she will make a triumphant return in Sochi.
Scary Symptoms Went Undiagnosed for 14 Years
Angeli’s symptoms—which included fainting spells, chronic fatigue, dizziness, muscles and joint aches, and back pain—began when she was a 10-year-old in Wisconsin.
“My symptoms would fluctuate, which would really confuse doctors,” recalls Angeli, whose health problems worsened when she reached her early 20s. “I could push past the fatigue, but as the disease progressed, blurry vision and vertigo, neurological things like that really hindered my athletic career as a skier.”
“(In high school), I would fall asleep in class because I had this extreme fatigue, and they misunderstood that as being a slacker or being lazy," says Angeli. "And having that negative feedback from them was really heartbreaking for me because I was trying my hardest. I was focused, and I wanted to succeed in my academics as well.”
At various times, she was told that the problem was mononucleosis, a hormone imbalance, chronic fatigue syndrome, or arthritis. At one point, she was tested for multiple sclerosis. When her fluctuating symptoms continued to perplex medical providers, several doctors theorized that the problem was actually psychosomatic.
“I started doubting myself and going through the emotional experience of having doctors think I was crazy,” says the skier. “Since they couldn’t find an answer, I just pushed everything aside and hid a lot of my symptoms from people around me because I just wanted to move on with my life.”
Determined to Pursue Her Olympic Dream
However, Angeli decided not to let medical skepticism—or even her worsening symptoms—hold her back from pursuing her passion for her sport. “I thought okay, maybe they could be onto something," she says. "Maybe I need to overcome this mentally. And that led me to be very determined to not let my physical condition stop me from progressing in skiing and reaching for my dreams.”
For a time, the skier gave up on getting a diagnosis, but in 2008 after the terrifying bout of vertigo at the Aspen X Games, the skier decided to resume her quest for a diagnosis. “I was still experiencing that kind of loss of control while doing such a high-risk sport, so it was definitely scary.”
In November, 2009, Angeli was finally diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, triggered by a tick bite she’d gotten at age 10. “Honestly I didn’t believe it at first, because I had gone through so many misdiagnoses. So I went right away, after being diagnosed with Lyme by one doctor, to a specialist in New York and got a second opinion where we confirmed that [it was Lyme].”
A Long Quest For Health
The specialist prescribed intensive oral and IV antibiotic therapy, but it took many months to see improvement. “For the first year of treatment I was really fearful that it was just another misdiagnosis,” says Angeli, who also switched to an anti-inflammatory diet, took supplements, and began meditating to combat stress.
Since then, Angeli has become active in fostering awareness about Lyme disease and has become a spokeswoman for the LymeLight Foundation, an organization dedicated to funding medical treatment for patients with the disease. She also raised money through a Kickstarter campaign to fund a documentary about her experience.
Although she had to take a three-year break from her sport during her recovery, the skier is now healthy and incredibly excited about making her debut on the U.S. Olympic team, which she calls “a dream come true.”
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