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Alumni FeAture: eliciA leAl
teXAns
Overcoming Insurmountable Obstacles
— Eli C i A lEA l, ‘89
Elicia Leal refused to let medical complications dictate her life
By M A ry G. S A lTA r E lli
Overcoming adversity and persevering against all odds are hallmarks of Elicia Leal’s life that she learned from her parents, her mentors and the competitors she has helped during her career as an athletic trainer. She especially leaned upon their wisdom during the last year as she recovered from a near-fatal car accident, followed by a debilitating stroke.
“I’m happy to be alive,” Leal said, who was honored as Tarleton’s Outstanding Young Alumna in 2005. “I tell people that you have to have hope and a positive attitude to survive and strive to be better.”
In July 2014, Leal passed out behind the wheel of her car along a highway in West Virginia. At the hospital, doctors said she had a super-bowl sized aneurism on the left side of her brain above her eye socket. After discussions with specialists worldwide, she agreed to undergo surgery to insert a stent in her artery.
Leal flew home on a commercial flight sitting between two friends, knowing the aneurism could bleed and nothing could be done to save her. In the midst of surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Leal suffered a stroke, paralyzing the right side of her body. Doctors said she would probably remain immobile for the rest of her life.
Close friends and family supported Leal, guiding her medical care and encouraging her rehabilitation. Other friends helped with medical expenses by selling “Team Leal” T-shirts. At Tarleton, Dr. Steve Simpson, Leal’s mentor, organized “Lunch for Leal” and raised $6,000.
“How many people have that kind of support?” Leal said. “I’m one lucky lady.”
Recovery meant enduring three months of in-patient rehabilitation, where Leal re-learned how to walk, talk and make proper brain associations, and another three months of outpatient therapy. Today, she is back at work as an athletic trainer at McKinney North High School.
“She really bounced back and still knows everything about athletic training,” said Aaron Holcomb, a senior at McKinney North. “Watching Elicia taught me that perseverance and determination can motivate you to come back from tragedy.”
Throughout her life, Leal has taken advantage of guidance offered by mentors. The youngest of 11 children of migrant farm workers, she attended De Leon High School, where the basketball coach sent her to an athletic training course and encouraged her to enroll in Tarleton’s Upward Bound program.
Leal came to Tarleton, worked with the women’s basketball team, and met Simpson, who counseled her to major in sports medicine. In 1989, she became the first member of her family to graduate from college.
After obtaining her master’s degree in education, Leal volunteered as an athletic trainer for Olympic athletes. In 2003, she worked with the women’s water polo team at the Pan American Games in Santa Domingo, and team members requested her as their trainer for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. There, she walked in the opening ceremonies with the American team.
“We all lined up and entered the stadium as 72,000 spectators shouted ‘USA, USA,’” Leal remembered. “There I was, a female athletic trainer at the pinnacle of my career, who as a little kid was never even supposed to go to college, and I got to experience an Olympic thrill.”
Leal uses her Olympic involvement to inspire students to strive for their dreams, and her own recovery has given her more patience with rehabilitating athletes. “I tell them ‘if you work hard, it will make you better,’” she said. “You may not be able to run today, but if you do these walking treatments, you might be running tomorrow.”
Leal wants to share her story of determination with others by writing a book and becoming a professional inspirational speaker.
“God kept me alive for a reason,” she said. “My whole life has started over. Sharing my life story to inspire others might be my purpose.”
