Dance coach refuses to let medical condition keep her from her team
»Play Video
KIRKLAND, Wash, -- A mysterious illness sidelined a local dance team coach, and by the time she found out what was wrong she was in dire need of surgery.
Despite the severity of her illness, Lindsey Beck somehow found a way to take care of her health while still taking care of her team.
Beck always dreamed of coaching her high school dance team, of giving back all that she'd received when she was on the team.
In 2009, she was living that dream when she realized that something didn't feel right.
"I was just noticing weird, different symptoms. Sometimes I felt weak when I'd get out of bed," she said.
For months, doctors couldn't find the problem. Finally an MRI revealed a devastating condition.
"I had a cavernous hemangioma, which is a growth of basically kind of like blood vessels and they hemorrhage and bleed and make them get bigger," she said. "It was in my neck at C3 and C4. It was very serious. It was very shocking when we were told what it was."
Risks to remove the mass were high, but the risks of not removing it were even higher.
"There's only a thin ribbon of spinal cord there. She was really teetering on catastrophe," said Dr.Richard Ellenbogen of Harborview Medical Center.
And there was another problem: Beck wanted to postpone the surgery.
The dance team she coached was competing in the state championships, and she couldn't miss it.
"I said, 'But you understand, of course, that you may die or you may not walk again,' and she says, 'No, I'm going to walk again. I coach a dance team, Lake Washington Dance Team, and we're competing for the State Championship and I want to be ready for that,'" Ellenbogen said.
They scheduled surgery a month before the state competition.
Just hours after the grueling surgery, Beck insisted on recording a message to her team.
"Hi girls, it's me. I'm doing great," the message said. "Work really hard tonight, I love you, and I'll be back soon."
Beck had to re-learn almost everything: using a bathroom, combing her hair, walking. As she pushed herself in rehab, she kept pushing her dance team.
She called with messages, watched videos of practice and made suggestions about where the team could improve.
Two days before state -- just four weeks after major spinal surgery -- Beck was released from the hospital.
She walked into the arena to coach her team.
At the end of an exhausting competition, all that was left was the awards ceremony.
"They said second place and they still had not said Lake Washington," Beck said. "I just remember all of the girls saying, 'It's okay, it's okay, we got here and we worked so hard'. They were so proud and I was so proud. Then first place came on and they played our music and everyone just lost it. It was like oh my gosh, our first state championship, how did we did this? It was so amazing."
As if that wasn't enough, Beck was also awarded Coach of the Year.
A dangerous mass threatened to take Beck's dreams away, but neither she nor her doctors at Harborview were going to let that happen.
"They believed in me, they never gave up, and that's how we got there together," Beck said.
Despite the severity of her illness, Lindsey Beck somehow found a way to take care of her health while still taking care of her team.
Beck always dreamed of coaching her high school dance team, of giving back all that she'd received when she was on the team.
In 2009, she was living that dream when she realized that something didn't feel right.
"I was just noticing weird, different symptoms. Sometimes I felt weak when I'd get out of bed," she said.
For months, doctors couldn't find the problem. Finally an MRI revealed a devastating condition.
"I had a cavernous hemangioma, which is a growth of basically kind of like blood vessels and they hemorrhage and bleed and make them get bigger," she said. "It was in my neck at C3 and C4. It was very serious. It was very shocking when we were told what it was."
Risks to remove the mass were high, but the risks of not removing it were even higher.
"There's only a thin ribbon of spinal cord there. She was really teetering on catastrophe," said Dr.Richard Ellenbogen of Harborview Medical Center.
And there was another problem: Beck wanted to postpone the surgery.
The dance team she coached was competing in the state championships, and she couldn't miss it.
"I said, 'But you understand, of course, that you may die or you may not walk again,' and she says, 'No, I'm going to walk again. I coach a dance team, Lake Washington Dance Team, and we're competing for the State Championship and I want to be ready for that,'" Ellenbogen said.
They scheduled surgery a month before the state competition.
Just hours after the grueling surgery, Beck insisted on recording a message to her team.
"Hi girls, it's me. I'm doing great," the message said. "Work really hard tonight, I love you, and I'll be back soon."
Beck had to re-learn almost everything: using a bathroom, combing her hair, walking. As she pushed herself in rehab, she kept pushing her dance team.
She called with messages, watched videos of practice and made suggestions about where the team could improve.
Two days before state -- just four weeks after major spinal surgery -- Beck was released from the hospital.
She walked into the arena to coach her team.
At the end of an exhausting competition, all that was left was the awards ceremony.
"They said second place and they still had not said Lake Washington," Beck said. "I just remember all of the girls saying, 'It's okay, it's okay, we got here and we worked so hard'. They were so proud and I was so proud. Then first place came on and they played our music and everyone just lost it. It was like oh my gosh, our first state championship, how did we did this? It was so amazing."
As if that wasn't enough, Beck was also awarded Coach of the Year.
A dangerous mass threatened to take Beck's dreams away, but neither she nor her doctors at Harborview were going to let that happen.
"They believed in me, they never gave up, and that's how we got there together," Beck said.
