Madison Reinert is a junior Education major at Mansfield University and plays midfield for the Mountaineers women's soccer program.
Last year, just one week before she was supposed to move in for preseason, Madison suffered a stroke. She also had a brain bleed which caused multiple seizures. With the physical toll the stroke took on her body, Madison's 2021 season was over with the question of whether she would return to play soccer.
"The whole right side of my body went completely dead. I had no feeling anywhere, and I couldn't speak. The only word I could say was yeah. So that happened for a good three days and I was in and out of consciousness for a good three days" said Reinert. "It was terrifying, every time I would go to bed after I came home from the hospital I'd be scared I was going to have another one so I was sleeping downstairs next to my parent's room for a good week to two weeks," she added.
Madison spent a week and a half in the hospital. She went through speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. Then, she did outpatient therapy for a month, and ever since, she slowly recovered and continued to make progress.
In the spring, Reinert was cleared to play again. She started to train with the team, had a great preseason, and on Sunday in a season-opening win over Salem University, Madison scored a goal in her first game back after missing a season as the Mountaineers beat Salem University, 5-0.
To read the entire story and watch the video interview, click here.
Original source can be found here.
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