AOW: Kayla Montgomery: Pushing the Limits of MS

NAME: ______DATE: ______

Multiple Sclerosis is a debilitating disease which can disrupt and even block the nerve signals that flow between the brain and lower body and can cause complete numbness, problems with vision, balance, muscle control, and other basic body functions. The effects of the disease are different for everyone and can range from mild symptoms that do not require treatment to severe.

Kayla Montgomery is an 18-year old North Carolina athlete with Mount Tabor High School who is plagued by this disease. Despite her diagnosis, Kayla is one of the best teenage runners in the United States. Each time Kayla races, her legs go numb, however, she is able to keep running. Once she stops, she will collapse, but her Coach waits at the finish line to catch her with open arms. “When I finish, it feels like there’s nothing underneath me. I start out feeling normal and then my legs gradually go numb. I’ve trained myself to think about other things while I race, to get through. But when I break the motion, I can’t control them and I fall,” says Montgomery. The symptoms subside slowly as she rests and allows her body temperature to return to normal.

Kayla’s persistence and hard work has paid off. Earlier this year, won the state title in the 3,200-meter race. “Her time of 10 minutes 43 seconds ranks her 21st in the country,” the New York Times wrote in March. The progression of Kayla’s disease is unknown at this time, and life in a wheelchair is a possibility, but she plans on making the most of her time as an able-bodied competitor. She is currently a student at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN where is runs for the Women’s Cross Country team. She has made a promise to herself to run for as long as her body allows. In an interview with ESPN, Montgomery said, “It’s difficult to live with a disease where your own body’s fighting against yourself; so when I’m running I feel like I’m battling that, I feel like I’m safe from myself. As long as I’m running, everything’s fine.”

Watch this video that accompanies this article:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11909407

READ AND ANNOTATE: Read and annotate the article. Use your annotation guide. _____/10 points

SHORT ANSWER: Respond to the following questions in complete sentences. Each response is worth 3 points.

1. Why do some people believe Kayla has an unfair advantage on the track? ______

2. How do the tone of the video and that of the text differ from one another? What does that do for the reader? ______

3. Explain this statement from the ESPN video, “We begin where the race ends.” ______EXTENDED RESPONSE: Respond to the following question in paragraph form (a minimum of 5-7 sentences). Your response is worth 3 points.

Does Kayla have an unfair advantage over other runners who must feel the pain of their legs when running long distances? Is it fair that she be allowed to compete? State your claim in a well-developed paragraph citing evidence from the text to support your answer.

______

PROOFREAD: Writing conventions are worth 3 points. _____/3