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Steamboat Magazine

Unstoppable

03/02/2022 02:47PM ● By Dan Greeson

Paige tries out her 203 cm super-G skis for the first time on the freshly groomed Heavenly Daze run at the Steamboat Ski Area.

Story by Dan Greeson
Photography by Melissa VanArsdale


STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO
– Even before she was born, Paige VanArsdale faced – and overcame – obstacles.

“Like clockwork, Paige used to toss and turn in utero shortly after midnight,” says Melissa VanArsdale, Paige’s mother. The morning of Nov. 2, 1999, Melissa woke up at 2 a.m. But this time was different. “Paige wasn’t moving, and my belly felt hard as a rock,” Melissa says. While she wasn’t convinced it was an emergency, Melissa went to the emergency room just to be safe.

Paige’s fetal heart rate was 50 beats per minute – significantly lower than the standard 110-160. The doctor, alarmed, said Paige needed to come out immediately via emergency C-section and Derek VanArsdale, Melissa’s husband and Paige’s father, rushed to the hospital.

Paige’s umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around her neck, which likely would have killed her if Melissa hadn’t trusted her gut and gone to the ER. Unwrapping the cord helped her breathe temporarily, but Paige turned blue again moments later and had to be rushed to a newborn intensive care unit in Denver. Neither Melissa nor Derek could travel with Paige, due to space constraints in the helicopter and Melissa’s need to recover after surgery. “That first week in the hospital was heartbreaking, as I listened to other babies crying,” Melissa says. A week later, when Melissa and Derek were able to reunite with Paige, a neurologist said she detected a small spot on Paige’s brain. She added that it was probably fine; abnormalities are common on these tests and not always reason to worry.

Paige at the top of Thunderhead at the Steamboat Ski Area.


However, Paige missed major milestones in her early years. She didn’t lift her head, roll, crawl or walk when expected. By her second birthday, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. “I wasn’t provided more than the diagnosis, so I looked it up on the internet. This was the absolute worst thing to do because it showed extreme cases only,” Melissa says. When Paige did begin walking, it involved countless falls. Paige wore a brace on her right leg nearly every day, replaced with a new one every six months to keep up with growth spurts. CP not only affected Paige physically, but also developmentally, and she struggled in school. Melissa took sign language because she was told Paige would never speak, but Paige surprised her family in the best way when she found her voice on an eight-hour car trip to New Mexico. “We haven’t used sign since,” Melissa says.

Late one night in 2009, Melissa awoke to Paige calling out from her room. “The scream was like none I’d ever heard,” Melissa says. She ran to Paige’s room to find her convulsing. “Her eyes were wide open with fear, staring at me like she was begging me to help her,” Melissa says. “I couldn’t. I just watched for what seemed to be forever.” Melissa called 911 while Paige was still convulsing. At the hospital, she learned that this was Paige’s first grand mal seizure – and the beginning of Paige’s daily regimen of seizure medication.

In Paige’s junior year of high school, an anti-drug assembly caused her to abruptly stop taking her medication during a week-long ski racing trip to Park City, Utah. She didn’t tell her parents she stopped taking her meds. Paige’s coach contacted Melissa with heightened concerns about her behavior, saying she was alternately being disrespectful and crying uncontrollably. Paige returned to Steamboat and immediately, Derek and Melissa knew something was wrong. “She didn’t make any sense when she talked to us. She was angry, and she lacked common sense, putting herself in danger with her risky behavior,” Melissa says. She took Paige to the ER that evening to undergo tests and monitoring. “Neither of us slept that night,” Melissa says.

Paige poses at the top of the slalom course in Panorama, Canada at the first races of the 2021-22 season.


Melissa and Derek figured out that Paige had stopped her seizure meds and that she had a seizure on the ski lift, causing her to hit her head and get a concussion while unloading. Paige’s neurologist said she would be back to normal after a week of resuming her meds, but that wasn’t the case. She continued to have outbursts of anger and crying, which led to repeated visits to the Children’s Hospital in Denver and countless neurologist visits. At the height of her symptoms, Paige didn’t sleep for four days. All the while, doctors continued to try to figure out what was wrong.

Even in these darkest moments, Paige’s personality shone through to the surface. “She was somewhere in there,” Melissa says. One day, when Paige was scheduled for a spinal tap, nurses asked Melissa if Paige liked to sing. “I replied, ‘Yes but she has an awful voice – if she were ever on American Idol, it wouldn’t be because we encouraged her.’” Paige entered the room and they asked Paige if there was a song she wanted to sing. She immediately belted out, “Let it go, let it go/Can’t hold it back anymore/Let it go, let it go...” The entire nursing staff that was present chimed in, and Paige led them on a sing-along of the popular song from the Disney movie “Frozen.”

Paige was later diagnosed with bipolar depression – potentially the combined result of suddenly stopping her medication and getting a severe concussion. After her release from the hospital a month later, Paige didn’t recognize many of her friends, or where her classes were located at school. She would tire fast at school, and regularly would get angry or start crying easily.

Following her bipolar diagnosis, skiing became Paige’s method of healing. “She, for once, needed support to heal,” Melissa says. “We kept it simple for her. Paige and I would just ski Buddy’s Run to Rainbow. Sometimes I’d sneak in Cyclone.” In 2018, Paige signed up with Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. She trained on her own terms – just an hour or two a few days a week – and over time, she rediscovered joy and fulfillment in skiing. “I like to go fast, and skiing a run nonstop from top to bottom,” Paige says. “I like going first thing in the morning before the crowds to ski the fresh corduroy.”

Paige skis the NORAM slalom course in Winter Park.


In February 2019, Paige’s coaches encouraged her to participate in a giant slalom race, which revived her infatuation with ski racing. During ski season 2019-20, Paige returned to Park City for the first time after her fall in 2017. “She was scared and had to overcome a lot of bad memories,” Melissa says, but she still won a bronze and a gold in the slalom races. During the 2021 season, Paige medaled in many of the races, even earning a bronze in GS. In the next few seasons, Paige hopes to gradually earn the points needed to make the U.S. Paralympic team. “I would be really excited if I made the Paralympic team and got to travel to another country to compete with the world’s best para skiers,” Paige says.

“She knows it’s a big challenge, but Paige has never let challenges and obstacles stop her from pursuing her dreams,” Melissa adds.

Paige’s positivity and determination guide her through challenge after challenge without giving up. “Growing up, Paige would fall often when playing,” Melissa says. “She would just give us a thumbs up and say, ‘I’m okay.’ Then she’d get back up and return to whatever she was doing. Her biggest obstacle wasn’t that she was a delayed learner – it was her trying to prove to people that she could learn if given more time.” Despite being told she’d never write or read, Paige practiced writing in her journal and plodded through chapter books. She now writes clearly and reads with the aid of Audible.

Paige has faced the impossible, but each step of the journey she was supported by her parents and her brother, Kaleb. Family continues to be essential for Paige, whether she’s skiing in Steamboat Springs or traveling the country. “I like when my brother shows up to watch me race or brags to his friends about me,” she says. “I also like being able to Facetime my family when I’m traveling. It feels like they are with me.”

For others who face massive challenges, Paige’s advice is simple. “No matter what life throws your way, never give up. Even if you have setbacks,” she says. “Keep your dream alive, but set smaller goals to reach your dream. I take one run of a race at a time.”