Softball: Loudoun Valley Senior Richardson Battles Back After Chronic Migraines Sideline Her Junior Year

Loudoun Valley senior softball player Kelsey Richardson talks about her comeback attempt after medical issues sidelined her entire junior year


(Dec. 31, 2011) - Loudoun Valley High School pitcher Kelsey Richardson had gotten headaches before so when she developed a migraine on the bus ride her sophomore season to the VHSL state quarterfinal softball game at James Madison High School in Vienna she didn't think twice about it. Only this time, the headache didn't go away. It didn't get better. In fact it got worse and essentially turned into a debilitating 18-month fight against her toughest foe yet: chronic daily migraines.

The soft-spoken Richardson, not only couldn't play softball after that June day in 2010 but she basically missed her entire junior school year at Loudoun Valley as the migraines forced her to be homebound for her studies as the light and noise of school was too much with her painful condition.

"The next few days after that game I woke up and still had the headache ... and there was no cure for it all," said Richardson. "I was sensitive to lights, sounds, smells ... I had to lay in the dark and nothing really makes me feel better.

In addition to the migraines, Richardson also has an aneurysm in her cerebral artery that doctors are monitoring. The good news is that Richardson is back at school for her senior year and determined to make it back into the Viking softball squad. She reached a milestone this fall when she pitched in a travel softball game, facing hitters for the first time since that state quarterfinal playoff game.