Battling through bad times

Flathead guard has survived

brain surgery, a car accident and a

freezing Montana night to become Class AA's third-leading scorer

By DIXIE KNUTSON/The Daily Inter Lake

A little girl with a big bag on her shoulder.

That's the first memory Flathead Bravette basketball coach Kim Elliott has of 5-foot-4 senior Kelsey Hildal on the first day of basketball tryouts.

Elliott's first thought was "who is this kid who looks like she just wants to play basketball?"

Hildal walked up to the coach, shook his hand, introduced herself and calmly told him she'd like to try out.

"She just showed up. I didn't know anything about her or anything. It took a lot of guts to do what she did," he said.

"But she was just matter of fact."

It wasn't more than a couple minutes before freshman coach Dave Crosswhite, asked "'coach, did you see that?'"

He was reacting to Hildal's behind-the-back move for a layup.

It wasn't long before Elliott says he realized "there's something special that has just walked into the gym, basketball-wise."

A couple of the Braves' basketball coaches were watching Hildal the next day as they waited to begin their own practice.

Elliott turned to speak to them at one point. But before he could say a word, one piped up with "'wipe the smile off your face, coach.'"

And that is how Hildal became a Flathead Bravette.

Since then, she's averaged 18.8 points per game, third highest in Class AA, brought in an average of 3.7 rebounds per game and 1.7 assists. She's also broken the Flathead High School single-game scoring record.

The other Bravettes have been on her bandwagon since the beginning, according to Elliott.

"Their jaws dropped when we first started doing some drills," the coach said.

"But there wasn't one person, one girl that I saw a look in their eyes of jealousy," he said.

"She fit in with all of them. JV, varsity, they've all just kind of engulfed her. This group of girls I've got is pretty special. There's no drama on this team at all. Kelsey makes us better and they've jelled in terms of off the court. It's just very accepting of a person from outside," he said.

But none of that even nicks the surface of Kelsey Hildal's story.

She's 18, but already Hildal has been through brain surgery and a horrendous car accident during which she suffered a brain injury. She's been removed from her home in the middle of the night to attend a boot camp in North Carolina and she's been enrolled in Montana Academy.

To top it all, she nearly died of hypothermia during an jaunt through the Montana countryside last February.

It took several weeks for Kelsey to tell her story to her new coach.

Elliott had talked to Kelsey's mom, Robyn, but asked not to be told too much of Kelsey's history.

"It wanted to hear it unfiltered, from Kelsey," he said.

It came out Jan. 3 on a bus ride home from Great Falls.

The Bravettes drove home that night in a whiteout, the outside temperature was below zero and they had bus trouble.

Elliott, Kelsey and just a few others wound up on one bus while the rest of the girls rode home on another.

Between Great Falls and Mariah's Pass, she told her story.

Elliott is still in awe.

"The jaw kept dropping further and further and further. I felt honored that she trusted me with her story. I'm honored that she's on our team and I'm honored that she's been put in my life," Elliott said.

Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, she is one of twin daughters born to Rick and Robyn Hildal.

Kelsey lived a normal life there until her fifth grade year. She was diagnosed with hemifacial spasm (a neuromuscular disorder characterized by frequent involuntary spasms on one side of the face).

The brain surgery stopped the spasms, but she went through rehab to learn to walk again - a 10-year-old learning among 60-year-old stroke patients.

Three years later, on the way to a soccer tournament, the Hildal family was involved in a car accident. Dad Rick and twin sister Alix, sitting on the passenger side, walked away with cuts and bruises. Mom Robyn and Kelsey weren't as lucky.

"One side of the car just got flattened," she said.

Robyn had a broken arm and Kelsey suffered numerous injuries - a punctured lung, a broken arm, lacerations to her ear and face and she needed staples in her head.

Her left arm is now shorter than her right.

But then, another undiagnosed injury appeared.

Very shortly after the accident "I started really acting out of character," Kelsey said.

"I was making some bad decisions," is all she will say.

Before the wreck, she had been a compliant child who enjoyed school, got great grades and was eager to please.

Afterward, she "just got really reckless and out of countrol.

"I just felt like I didn't care. It was just a huge change," she said.

But because the difference came on slowly, it took both Kelsey and her parents a few years to catch on.

"It was so slow and gradual, I didn't really notice it was happening," she said.

She still got perfect grades in school, but Alix, with whom she'd always been close, began to worry and eventually pulled away.

"At first, she wanted to be my buddy and not tell on me. But we became distant. It was heartwrenching," she said.

The Hildals eventually sent Kelsey to a wilderness boot camp in North Carolina.

Men came into the home in the middle of the night, handcuffed Kelsey and took her.

That is the hardest thing a parent has to do, have strangers come in the night and handcuff their child, she said.

Kelsey, though, saw it as a new adventure.

"I didn't fight them at all. I had this big smile on my face. I had this huge plan, how I was going to escape."

She wasn't scared - and when the men asked if she'd like to get something to eat, she chose McDonald's and loaded up on everything from burgers to a McFlurry.

She ate beans and rice for the next 60-some days and took a total of two showers.

She didn't last long at the boot camp.

She hiked all day, learned to build fires, and basically had the time of her life.

"I liked it too much. I loved it there and wanted to stay. I lived in the woods 24-7. You never go inside," she said.

She graduated early, spent one night with her parents and was on a flight to Montana. The Hildals had enrolled her in Montana Academy.

"I did not pick it," she said of Montana Academy.

"It was rough in the beginning. I really struggled to accept the program and work hard," she said.

She ran away twice - the second time nearly killed her.

"We were doing this thing they called 'Superclean,' she said.

Her job was to sweep off the porch. She piled on the clothing and headed out.

"They all thought I was outside shoveling, but really I was on my way. Just being on the run was eventful," she said.

She ran eight miles through 20 inches of snow and 5 below zero temperature from Montana Academy to McGregor Lake. She passed out on a picnic table, in shock and soaking wet from the sweat.

"I barely remember a lot of it. I was asleep when they came," she said.

Her counselor, Mary'L, found her.

Kelsey tried not to act too happy, but inside she says she was glad to be found.

She and Mary'L still see a lot of one another.

"We go out to breakfast. She's been great to me," she said.

Kelsey has been able to move on from Montana Academy. She is a senior at Flathead and lives in a transition house.

"I'm going to school in the real world now, doing my own shopping," she smiled.

There is a strict schedule she must adhere to, however.

"I have to be home for dinner (before 6 p.m.) and she has regular required meetings and study hours. Twice a week, she cooks dinner for everyone.

"I'm learning. One time I made this thing called 'lima bean surprise,'" she said.

"I really enjoy school and I think because I enjoy it, it makes it a lot easier time."

And there is basketball.

She started out a soccer player - and she still plays that sport - but the minute she picked up a basketball, she was hooked.

"It just felt really good to me. It felt natural."

She convinced her parents to put a hoop in the driveway and paid Alix to rebound for her.

The driveway was on a hill, 'so it really forced me to put up good shots," she said.

"Basketball is so important. It's a huge motivator to me. Just the team in general is like family to me. It's really helped me make friends, to stay in touch, it's a huge stress reliever to me. There's nothing more relaxing to me," she said.

"I look forward to going to practice. I feel in my element."

Kelsey hopes to play basketball at the next level.

A number of coaches have called, Elliott said.

"There's no question of whether she can play college basketball. It's just at what level and where," Elliott said.

"I want to stay out west. I like the culture and the people and the atmosphere and the pace seems a little slower," she said.

There are two threads through Kelsey's life right now - the desire to do well academically and basketball.

She's interested in science and math and in a possible career in the medical field, Elliott said.

"She's very quick at math. It's fun to listen to the girls (with their homework). If anybody has a problem, they just go to Kelsey," he said.

"She's got two lifelines," he said.

"She's had some major challenges in her life, but she just seems so grounded. I don't worry about her going back to old habits," he said.

"I'm in awe of her story and that she can still walk, let alone the moves she does. There's not one ounce of arrogance in her. She honestly believes she's not better than the other kids.

"What I see out there, I see life. I don't see a basketball player. I see life. I would not have seen that 10 years ago," the coach said.

"It's about hard work and it's about never quitting.

"Kelsey is teaching me. And she doesn't even know it."