This is the continuation of a series of Body, Mind & Soul stories that highlights member student-athletes, coaches and administrators of Conference Carolinas.

FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. - For Natalie Hayes, beating opponents in the swimming pool has been the easy part.

The real challenges lie in the rest of her life. An almost unimaginable litany of pratfalls and mishaps has followed Emmanuel’s All-American swimmer at every turn.

Let’s review her star-crossed medical resume:

Mishap No. 1 - Already considered a premier national-caliber high school swimmer, Hayes’ journey of calamities started when an unexplained virus attacked her right ear drum during the summer before her sophomore year at Boyle County High School in Danville, Kentucky, about 80 miles southeast of Louisville. It destroyed the Vestibular System of her inner ear, resulting in her experiencing Vertigo, a loss of balance and nausea.   

Her mother, Rhonda, still recalls that time with some hesitancy.

“She couldn’t walk and felt dizzy all the time,” she said. “She would fall in the shower. We were terrified.”

While the symptoms subsided after a few months, by January of 2015 the problems returned. In March of that year, she underwent successful surgery to repair the ear.

Mishap No. 2 - Only a week prior to the operation, Natalie began to run on a treadmill in her family’s basement in an attempt to stay in shape for the next swimming season. On March 26, 2015, she fell violently off the machine.

Hayes had been running so fast, she ricocheted and hit her chin on the corner of a nearby cabinet. The fall caused whiplash to her head.

“I heard her fall upstairs,” said her mother, who also graduated from Emmanuel with a teaching degree in 1990. “I went down to see what happened. Natalie was not unconscious, but clearly no one was at home. She finally came around.”

The elite swimmer felt woozy that night, then began complaining of migraine headaches and severe sensitivity to bright lights. While a cat scan came back clear with no apparent internal bleeding, the symptoms persisted. Unable to read or do routine daily functions, Natalie spent a full year visiting seven different doctors in the state, including the University of Kentucky Concussion Clinic.

Finally in late summer, an ophthalmologist diagnosed her with Convergence Insufficiency, a condition where your eyes don’t work together (one eye turns outward when focusing on a word or object). Essentially, Natalie’s eyes had lost the ability to track sentences from left to right.

By the start of classes her junior year of high school, Hayes still struggled with her equilibrium and couldn’t even stand up when she closed her eyes. Nevertheless, she returned to school at a great disadvantage.

“My husband and I just were just heartbroken,” Rhonda recalled. “She went through some extensive therapy, which made her feel sick, but once she learned how to focus, things got better.”

Hayes, an honor student who earned only one “B” during high school, was not yet out of the woods, however. Sapped of energy and eyes sensitive to light, Natalie could not even look at a computer screen--certainly a major obstacle for any student.  

She continued to participate in swim practice. That is, until one afternoon when she experienced a frightening episode that resembled a seizure or stroke while in the pool. Natalie could not talk, feeling a “fat tongue” sensation. Her vision became narrowed and she could no longer see properly.

“At that point, she was just done,” her mom said. “She had no energy and didn’t want to get out of bed. I cannot remember all the nights I laid awake trembling because of how scared I was. I was used to fixing things, but this made me feel helpless.”

Upon a recommendation, they sought out Dr. Tad Seifert, a noted sports neurologist based in Louisville. He correctly diagnosed her with Post Concussion Syndrome due to hitting her chin. Anxiety and depression are common side effects of the condition and Siefert treated her with medication and balance therapy.

The remainder of that school year was relatively smooth sailing for Hayes. Understandably, she felt like she finally had left her ordeal in the rearview mirror.

Mishap No. 3 - As the venerable ESPN commentator Lee Corso might say, “not so fast.” As upper-echelon swimmers, Natalie and twin brother, Hunter, belonged to the Lakeside Swim Team, requiring them to commute from Danville to Louisville three to four times a week during the school year and every day in the summer months. On one such day--April 15, 2016--their mother drove the sophomore twins in her Nissan Altima back to Danville after practice.

“While in the car, I remember Natalie telling me how much better she was feeling in the water and also just feeling healthier,” said her mom. “She had the talent to make the Olympic Trials cut, and I thought that might be becoming more possible.”

Then 15 minutes later, Natalie’s world came crashing down yet again. Rhonda Hayes stopped at a red light in the small town of Lawrenceburg, halfway between Danville and Louisville on Highway 51. It was then that a white Ford pick-up truck suddenly appeared behind her stationary car. The driver thought Rhonda was going to turn right and not pause at the light. He sped up and crashed into them.

Natalie was sitting up front with her mother upon impact. While wearing a seatbelt, the collision caused whiplash and another severe concussion. Yet, her symptoms were different than the ones caused by the first concussion. She found it difficult to hear and became sensitive to noise, while also experiencing difficulty expressing her thoughts verbally (“tongue-tied” is how her mother described it).

Accident Caused Hearing, Speech Issues

She and her family avoided going to restaurants because the background noise was unbearable. An audiologist diagnosed that Natalie’s pathway from the brain to her ears was completely damaged. While she could physically hear, the signals were inconsistent. Her brain was working overtime to compensate, which resulted in exhaustion and frequent migraine headaches.  

Since her treadmill accident in 2015, Natalie constantly wore sunglasses, including in her home, for one-and-half years straight. It was difficult for her at school, though administrators and teachers made special accommodations for her. She was allowed to wear the dark glasses and do her school work on paper instead of using a computer. Instead of walking in the noisy hallways between classes, her teachers let her leave the classrooms early to avoid the crowd.

Despite those accommodations, Natalie endured migraines periodically and her painful headaches would not go away. She was taken to the local hospital for IV infusions of steroids, magnesium and other medications to treat her nausea.

She also had trouble forming her words and expressing what she was thinking. A series of speech therapy sessions helped her regain her ability to speak normally.

After battling the ordeal for two long years, her doctor suggested an experimental treatment for her condition at the end of her senior year. He fitted Natalie with hearing aids.

One way she practiced her hearing and speech was by singing and memorizing the song, “Bawitdaba” by Kid Rock as an exercise.

“She absolutely drove Hunter and I crazy because I know one day she played that song 100 times!”

Remarkably, the headaches disappeared and her hearing improved dramatically as a result of wearing the hearing aids.  

Hayes could have felt an unwanted stigma wearing hearing aids at such a young age, but that’s not how she viewed it.

“Actually, I was excited. Before, I wasn’t able to keep up with conversations. I tried to explain that to my friends, but to be honest, it was lonely. The way I looked at it was the thought of my hearing not getting better for the rest of my life was much more difficult than wearing hearing aids.”

Prior to the auto accident, Hayes had continued to swim at Boyle County High School. But the second concussion sidelined her for a short period of time. Clearly not one to make excuses or give up, Natalie forged ahead to conquer her latest challenge, returning to practice in less than a month. Of course, that’s not to say it was easy.

“The car accident was tough,” Hayes said. “I felt like everything was falling back into place. I had worked hard (after the treadmill accident). Never in my life did I think I would be dealing with another thing so soon. It made me feel fragile, that I had no control.”

But there would be no pity party for this exceptional student-athlete.

“I was in a bad place for about a week, but then realized I wasn’t helping myself out. I was focusing way too much on the difficult road ahead instead of just the next step I needed to take. It was not helpful and wasn’t going to get me better, so instead of wallowing in my situation, I went to work.”

Hayes, a self-starter and Type A personality, was the last person who wanted to just lay around at home. However, the fourth concussion required a slow return to the pool. She and her neurologist devised a game plan to re-enter her into the swim program. She would start by training only 10 minutes a day, then increase her practice time by two-minute increments each day thereafter. It took her more than a month to build up to a regular practice.

Mishap No. 4 - Things were going along swimmingly, so to speak, until one day she forgot her swim bag at home.

“We were leaving for school one morning,” Natalie said sheepishly about the incident that occurred on Aug. 30, 2016. “I was in our car in the driveway and hadn’t realized that my dad had already pushed the garage door remote. I raced towards the house and wasn’t watching. My head hit the garage door!”

Already more susceptible due to her first two head injuries, this innocent mistake became Concussion No. 3. But wait, there’s more.

Mishap No. 5 - As her symptoms subsided by the end of fall, another freak accident was lurking around the corner. On Jan. 11, 2017, Hayes went about her practice routine after school. As she honed her butterfly technique, a male swimmer finished his freestyle run in the same lane. Accidentally, he inadvertently came down hard with his arm and smacked Natalie’s head for Concussion No. 4.

“She said, ‘Mom, I’m seeing stars and black spots in my vision,” said Rhonda Hayes. “You’re just thinking, ‘Oh no, here we go again. Lord, is she going to be okay?'"

Through all her travails, Hayes continued to swim. In fact, she did well enough to qualify for the U.S. Junior Nationals in the 200 butterfly. Her performance in the classroom, despite headaches and hearing difficulties, was even more impressive. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a 3.9 high school grade-point average.

“In my life, I’ve never seen anyone more driven, more determined with a never-give-up attitude than Natalie,” said her mom with justifiable pride. “I look at the things we went through and just marvel. I wish I could be as strong as she is.”

Natalie’s Condition Took Family Toll

Looking back, Natalie’s mother acknowledges the toll that was taken on the family and her daughter.

“It was a very stressful time,” she admitted. “It was also difficult from a financial standpoint in that much of Natalie’s therapy and equipment needs weren’t covered by insurance. We felt like it was one bad thing after another. We barely kept our nose above water but it sure was worth it. There were not a lot of happy moments during that time, but we celebrated every little thing we could.”

One constant issue was Natalie’s difficulty sleeping--a problem that still exists from time to time. Natalie borrowed a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber owned by a neighborhood friend, which she used for 40 consecutive nights which seemed to help (eventually, her parents purchased their own chamber).

And speaking of help, Natalie’s brother has been a godsend since childhood.

“It makes me emotional to even talk about him,” said his mom. “Hunter and Natalie are so close and he’s her biggest fan. Even though they’re both competitive swimmers, there has never been any jealousy. He is so happy for her when she succeeds. He’s also very protective.”

His mother mentions the special bond they have as twins, something that happened in early childhood.   

“They are just so close. Even in the hospital after they were born, Natalie was very fussy and they were kept in different bassinets. (Husband) Mark decided to have them placed in the same bed. As soon as they were put together, she settled down. We also placed them in separate rooms at preschool, but during recess they would meet and hug in the hallway!”

Hunter, a standout swimmer on the men’s team, remains very close with his twin sister.

“He is my built-in friend, training partner and supporter,” Natalie said. “I cannot tell you enough good things. He stands at the end of the lane during my races. He’s the first thing I look at when I finish, not the scoreboard. The look on his face and his reaction tells me whether I won the race. He really is part of my success in life. I could not imagine going to college for the first time without him. He’s been such an influence.”

A business administration major at Emmanuel, Hunter said he was not immune to Natalie’s suffering.

“It was difficult for the whole family,” he said. “Just lots of stress felt because of the weight of her injuries. For me personally, I really struggled to watch her from the sidelines and not being able to help her.”

While short (5-foot-2) for a swimmer, Natalie was a young phenom in the water. In fact, as a 13-year-old eighth grader, she qualified for the high school state finals. The mercurial youngster, despite her injuries out of the pool, proceeded to set school records in the 100 butterfly, 100 breaststroke, 200 and 400 freestyle relays, 200 IM and 200 medley relay. Named a Scholastic All-America for USA Swimming in 2016-17, she was a state finalist and region champion three straight years.

With such all-star credentials, Natalie was recruited by many major NCAA Division I swimming programs. Among her suitors was the University of Kentucky, Florida State, Army and Toledo.  

“Division I prestige was always part of my dream, but my physical challenges had me really stressed out,” she shared. “I knew that the swimming demands would be much greater at a major college program. I felt that Emmanuel was a better choice, both for elite swimming and my health.”

Mishap No. 6 - After a freshman year of health and accomplishment at Emmanuel, Natalie was derailed again. This time, she fractured her foot while tripping over a tree branch at her aunt’s farm near campus during her sophomore year. It did not prevent her, however, from winning the 200 butterfly at the Conference Carolinas Championships.

The Final Insult to Injury: COVID

Mishap No. 7 - If you have a different sense of humor, you might laugh at what happened next. This past September as she began her junior campaign, Natalie became one of millions of Americans to contract COVID-19. While tests came up negative, she clearly had the virus and was experiencing a lack of taste and flu-like symptoms. Even worse, Natalie has dealt with acute Asthma since childhood. The virus exacerbated her breathing, so much so that Hunter had to take her once to the hospital for special treatment and to check her oxygen level.  

“It was bad,” said the 2018-19 Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year. “I had no taste and it was very hard to breathe. I had to lie down because it was too hard to breathe sitting up. I really was too sick to take care of myself.

She was quarantined and in isolation for 14 days in a separate campus dorm. She lost 15 pounds during that period, barely carrying 100 pounds on her 5-foot-2 frame. While she did not practice swimming the remainder of the semester, Natalie somehow came out firing on all cylinders during the season.

“That’s my favorite part of the story,” she smiles. “I trained for such a short amount of time, but my personal relationship with God got better. It’s just a new testament to my faith that I went faster in every single event. There was an outside power at work.”

The school record-holder in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:03.26 (set at this year’s NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Ala. - photo below illustrates Emmanuel's success at NCAA Championships), Hayes has been the driving force behind an Emmanuel women’s swimming juggernaut. Allen Gilchrest, the Lions’ coach, gushes when talking about one of his prize swimmers.

“Natalie is really the kind of student-athlete that every coach is looking for. High-level athlete, high-level student--she almost had a perfect ACT score--and she’s so driven. We’re also always looking for good stewards of the program, someone who will represent our school both in and out of the pool. With Natalie, we’ve got one.”

Gilchrest said very few of Natalie’s teammates even knew of her mishaps of the past when she arrived in Franklin Springs as a freshman.

“Most just saw her as a fast swimmer,” he said. “She didn’t have that woe-is-me attitude. She didn’t like telling people about what she had gone through.”

Beyond refining Hayes’ swim stroke, Gilchrest also assists her at road meets due to her hearing issues. She can’t wear her hearing aids in the pool.

“When we first arrive at a venue, she will listen to see if the horn or announcer is loud enough,” the coach said. “If there’s a problem, we’ll talk to the officials. They’ve been great, either moving her into a lane closer to the horn, announcer or strobe lights. It really hasn’t been an issue.”

Since a young child, Natalie has been the determined, industrialist type. Just ask her mother.

“I remember her trying to draw a picture and she just couldn’t make it the way she wanted it. She got so upset. I told her, ‘Honey, you’re only three years old!’ Her preschool teacher always told me, ‘She doesn’t want to play. She just wants to do her work and make it perfect.”

Natalie’s father Mark, a vice president for a telecommunications company in Lexington, always thought his kids would excel in the pool.

“My dad is Filipino, so he makes jokes about the fact that our family has always been surrounded by water!” she said, chuckling. “Maybe he has a point.”

So, as Hayes approaches the remaining days of her junior year at Emmanuel, can she look back with some perspective on the bumpy road she has navigated as she sees light at the end of the tunnel?

“There’s been many lessons learned, for sure,” she said. “My experience has been humbling and has helped me treat people more kindly. Everyone goes through their personal form of hardship. For them, it’s the hardest thing they have to deal with. No one can tell on the surface what someone is going through.”

She also credits her deep faith in the Lord in playing a vital role in her recovery.

“I have been blessed by my parents giving me a strong Christian foundation,” said Natalie whose parents also gave her a prophetic middle name: Faith.   

“They always made taking Hunter and me to church a priority. When these things happened to me, it just made my faith more personal. All of a sudden, no one could fight this battle but me and God. It gave me a reason to get out of bed.”

Attending Emmanuel, the same school her brother committed to months earlier, only deepened her faith.

“It was really powerful to go to a school where people of my own age were pursuing God as much as I was,” she said. “It was really cool to see everyone so committed to their faith. I had never been challenged like that. It was eye-opening.”

While all the accidents and rehab sessions interrupted some of her swimming career, Natalie won’t entertain what-might-have-been thoughts as she approaches the final year of her college career. A future that includes the Olympics is probably a long shot, but she is genuinely grateful for the opportunity to swim at Emmanuel.    

“I only take away gratitude from what I’m doing now,” said Hayes, who still must have periodic medical check-ups. “I love swimming. I see the lost time as an advantage. By this time, many athletes are getting burned out. I’ve had enough breaks not to experience that. If anything, it’s made me miss swimming and appreciate being back. I’ve worked so hard to be competitive again. I just enjoy swimming, the grind and competition. I try to keep gratitude in my heart.”

Interestingly, it was her injury-riddled past that led Natalie to pursue a pre-medicine major at Emmanuel. She began reading books about how the brain works during high school and now wants to become a private-practice physician as a career. Judging by her classroom performance, she’s well on her way. She’s been named to the Dean’s List every semester, has never gotten less than an “A-minus” in a subject and boasts a glowing 3.8 grade-point average as an All-American swimmer.

Brother Hunter says Natalie’s success in overcoming her hardships reveals a silver lining.

“She’s much stronger now. She’s a very strong-willed person who’s always pushing for more. Even though she wins races, she still gets frustrated when she’s not able to do the time she wants. She always wants to get better.”

In fact, Hunter tells the story about his sister being upset by her time in the 100 butterfly at the conference meet finals even though she finished second in the event. 

“She insisted on swimming it again. It was the third time she swam the event the same day, first in the prelims that morning, then in the finals, and then in her own time trial after the meet had ended.”

When you listen to Hunter speak about his sister, the pride just oozes out of him.

“She is always busy, doing something productive. She carries 18 units, teaches classes on the side, tutors, swims competitively and is a science major. Just think about that for a minute. And she’s pretty humble about it”

Natalie also has served an internship at an eye doctor’s office in Lexington and discovered that she “likes working with people.” That experience has only reinforced her plans to practice medicine.

Beyond swimming, being a prized student and managing her health, Hayes also serves as a tutor (particularly for international students) and is a gifted artist. Mostly, she draws landscape scenes.

“I use a lot of chalk,” she says. “It gives me the time so I don’t have to worry about the paint drying. I take my sketchbook with me on any trip.”

She also explores her creativity through writing, her minor at Emmanuel.

“I find writing very therapeutic. When I was recovering, my processing was so slow. I would keep a journal and write lots of entries. It was super-helpful. I still go back and read it because it helps me understand myself better and how to communicate.”

One of her swim coaches once told her she should write a book. She laughs. If she did tell her story, the two prevalent themes would be faith and family.

 “There have been so many things to disrupt my life,” she said. “It’s definitely been a long road. I was a good student and swimmer and then all of that was taken away from me. You try to take back control of your life, but you can’t. My faith has really matured, both in good times and bad. Now I know I don’t want to be sovereign. God does a way better job than I do.”

As for her parents, Natalie struggles with describing how much she appreciates all they’ve done for her.

“I just can’t put it into words,” she said. “My treatments were expensive and they weren’t just regular doctor visits. I had to see specialists. Cost was never an issue with them. And the love and support they continued to show me. I wouldn’t be here today and have the same quality of life without them. I’ll never be able to repay them.”

“I’m just so happy that she can live and enjoy her life,” says her mom. “My husband says Natalie is a special soul. I think she’s found peace since those dark days. I see only blue skies ahead for her.” 

One final note: Of all her accolades, perhaps the most appropriate award given to Natalie came as a high school senior in 2018. Tom Leach, the legendary voice of the University of Kentucky Wildcats, selects prep athletes in the state who have preserved against all odds. Hayes was named to his annual All-Resilient Team. Unsubstantiated reports say the vote was not close.

Bob Rose is a longtime sports public relations executive who has worked for the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, the NFL Cardinals, Cal, Stanford and other organizations. Bob works with Assistant Commissioner Brian Hand and the entire Conference Carolinas office to help tell the stories of the tremendous student-athletes, coaches and administrators in Conference Carolinas.