When Caylie McMahon arrived at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Boston and her doctors asked what her recovery goals were, she said, “I’m going to run out those doors.” At the time, she couldn’t walk.
This April, Caylie will run the Boston Marathon for Spaulding with her best friend and University of Michigan field hockey teammate Lindsey Stagg, a feat that not long ago felt totally impossible.
Back to Basics
On March 2, 2021, when Caylie was only 18 years old, an MRI scan revealed that she had a baseball-sized tumor on her spine. Ten days later, she underwent an eight-hour surgery to remove it.
When she woke up, she couldn’t feel anything below her belly button. The tumor had been intertwined with her nerve roots, meaning the surgery posed a risk of partial paralysis. A week later, she arrived in a wheelchair at Spaulding, unable to move or feel her legs.
Three weeks later, Caylie walked out of the front doors of the hospital with only a cane, ran three miles only a couple of months after that, and was back in her goalie gear at practice by that July.
“I was told I would never walk, run, or play field hockey again,” Caylie says. When she initially returned home from Spaulding, it took the once-speedy athlete nine minutes to walk up a short flight of stairs. “But the support I received made all the difference. I went from being extremely independent to needing help getting out of bed, but my community never let me doubt that I would overcome this. Their belief in my comeback was critical.”
Caylie describes her stint at Spaulding as “nerve boot camp.” She explains, “Relearning to walk with nerve damage is mentally exhausting. Your brain has to relearn where your limbs are.” Caylie regained feeling in her right leg and left foot, but to this day has no feeling from her left knee to left ankle — a particularly challenging predicament for a field hockey goalkeeper who relies heavily on her ability to kick.
Because she couldn’t rely on sensation anymore, Caylie relearned to walk using mirror therapy, watching her foot hit the ground. Spaulding’s physical therapists worked with her on walking mechanics; occupational therapists helped her relearn daily tasks like getting into a car, grocery shopping, showering, and putting on shoes; and child life specialists created moments of normalcy, like in-hospital spa days.
One of Caylie’s favorite memories from her time at Spaulding was a day of connection with other patients. She had worn a shirt that said “Don’t Skip Leg Day” with a flamingo on it, prompting one of her physical therapists to bring in an inflatable flamingo costume to make things a little lighter in Caylie’s therapy. Caylie walked around the pediatric floor in the costume all day, visiting younger patients. “I became the ‘child life specialist’ for the day,” she remembers. “That’s Spaulding. That’s what’s so special about this place and the people who treat patients here — the ability to find joy in difficult circumstances.”
Connected by Community
Caylie and Lindsey met playing club field hockey in fifth grade and became fast friends, spending summer weekends on Cape Cod together, traveling to tournaments, and later committing to both play field hockey at the University of Michigan, where they became inseparable. “She’s been one of my main pillars of support,” Caylie says. Lindsey was the first person to send Caylie a care package at Spaulding and sent her daily encouragement and updates from their field hockey program.
“Running the marathon together is something we’ve talked about since Caylie’s recovery,” Lindsey says. “We wanted our turn to give back.”
Caylie wasn’t the first person they knew who received life-changing care at Spaulding. Their field hockey club owner and coach, Chelsey Bettencourt, had experienced a rare spinal stroke and was a patient at Spaulding years earlier, says Caylie.
“She was instrumental in my recovery, helping me understand how to interpret cues during the rehab process,” Caylie says. “At least one of our club teammates has run the Boston Marathon for her annually, so five years after my surgery, Lindsey and I decided it was our turn.”
Caylie and Lindsey couldn’t be more excited to tackle their first marathon together in support of the hospital that has so greatly impacted their lives. “We’ve trained at a Division I level for years, but marathon training is different,” Caylie says. “I have a custom program written by a coach who runs an adaptive fitness gym. I have to be extremely in tune with my body due to the lack of sensation in my left leg.”
Caylie is intimately familiar with the importance of adaptive fitness programming, so it’s deeply meaningful and personal for Caylie to raise funds in support of Spaulding Rehabilitation’s Adaptive Sports Centers (SASC), the place that helped her heal. SASC offers year-round physical and recreational activities for people of all ages and abilities, providing opportunities for adaptive group fitness and individualized classes, sports-based retreats and trips, cycling, canoeing, windsurfing, golf, skiing, sled-hockey, basketball, tennis, and yoga, among many other forms of exercise.
“We talk daily about training and fundraising,” Lindsey says. “We’re competitive, but we’re just so excited to cross the finish line together.”
To support Caylie and Lindsey’s fundraiser for Spaulding Rehabilitation, click here.