Susquehannock tennis player Jaylen Van Nice thrives despite being partially paralyzed
Jaylen Van Nice holds her tennis racket against her right palm with her ring finger and pinky. She holds the ball in the same hand with her thumb and index and middle fingers.
“It’s important to hold the racket facing down like this,” she said with the ball underneath the racket. “If you turn it on the side, it creates an awkward angle.”
Van Nice swings the racket and ball up, releasing the ball along the way. When the racket reaches the apex, she propels it forward to serve the ball into the opponent’s court.
It’s taken months to get her serve to this point, where it’s considered a legal motion. It was the final step in earning the senior a spot on the Susquehannock girls tennis team.
Tossing the ball with her left hand isn’t an option. Her partially paralyzed arm has been locked in a 90-degree angle since birth. It is considerably smaller than her right arm, and she can’t lift it above her shoulder.
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But the arm, which makes her “differently abled,” hasn’t kept her from playing No. 2 doubles with Ely Schismenos. It hasn’t prevented them from winning all their Div. II matches midway through the season.
“In my mind she has no limitations,” Susquehannock tennis coach Marianne Michels said. “She and her family need to be commended because they didn’t let her have limitations. If you want to do it, find a way to do it.”
'C3-4-5 keeps the diaphragm alive'
Giana Van Nice can’t say much about Jaylen’s birth on Oct. 30, 2007 or the days immediately following it.
Delivering the 10-pound baby was difficult, and after Jaylen was whisked away to the NICU with breathing difficulties, Giana wasn’t able to see her.
“I don’t remember a whole lot,” Giana said, “and the reason why is I was highly medicated. I was extremely depressed. I wasn’t allowed to be with her for a portion of time until we got transferred to a surgical NICU.”
Dan Van Nice remembers those early days of seeing his daughter in the NICU. Of seeing a baby much bigger than all of the others. Of seeing a baby who might not make it.
The nerves in Jaylen’s cervical spine, more specifically C3-4-5, were not functioning when she was born. That section of the spine determines the health of the diaphragm, lungs and down into the arm.
“If you go to med school they say ‘C-3-4-5 keeps the diaphragm alive,'” Giana said. “But it also impacts your whole arm, your hand, your wrist. Now they have procedures they can do, like moving nerves, but it’s been so long she’s completely atrophied.”
Jaylen has been using physical therapy to deal with the pain and muscle atrophy in her upper shoulder and neck and down her arm to the hand.
The left arm is noticeable now, but in those early days, it wasn’t even on her parents’ radar.
“I was really preparing myself for her to die,” Giana said of those first few months. “I didn’t think she would live because her oxygen was so low. She went through a surgery where they sewed up her diaphragm so it wasn’t putting carbon monoxide back into her lungs.”
That surgery was in January, a month after Giana took extra holiday pictures of her daughter in case she didn’t make it.
“Once I got through that part, we got into January and I said, ‘OK, she’s gonna live,’” Giana said. “Then I started looking at the arm. I never even thought about it, really.”
But once she did, the worries started to flood her brain.
“As a mom, you go to the worst possible thing, like, no one’s going to like her,” Giana said. “She’s never going to get married. How is she going to do her hair? How is she going to do any of this?”
'If she wanted to do it, we were going to let her'
Her parents said that initial worry lasted only as long as it took Jaylen to start doing things. She walked at 9 months old because without that functioning left arm, she couldn’t crawl. And she desperately wanted to keep up with her brother, Jareth, who was 4 or 5 at the time.
The Van Nices said Jaylen used to call herself Bittie because she was so small. Giana said Jaylen, the second of five children, looked like an infant trying to walk.
Walking wasn’t the problem for Jaylen. But losing her balance was because she had no way to break her fall.
“Giana called me and asked how many teeth Jaylen had,” Dan said. “I said she had six.”
Giana answered, “not anymore.”
Because whenever Jaylen started to fall, it ended in a face plant. That time she completely knocked out a baby tooth.
That didn’t stop her. And her parents didn’t either.
“I feel like Dan and I kind of took the approach that if she wanted to do it, we were going to let her,” Giana said. “It was really hard for me to not help or not engage until she asked for it or needed it.”
Like the time she wanted to be a cheerleader. Giana remembers Jaylen was 5 or 6 and was on top of the other cheerleaders’ legs. It took all Giana had to not jump in and make sure she was OK.
The list of things Jaylen has done or continues to do is exhausting. She swam as part of her physical therapy and has begun to hang out on a nearby climbing wall.
She raises goats at the family farm and doesn’t shy away from typical farm chores. She tosses hay, uses four-wheelers and other farm equipment and cuts firewood with a chain saw.
If you have doubts, check out @3125jayjay on Instagram where she demonstrates some of the things she isn’t supposed to be able to do with her “tiny left arm.”
'Differently abled' but not 'mentally challenged' for this Susquehannock tennis standout
Jaylen said she hasn’t been bullied since second grade. That’s when she started turning hurtful comments around on the person who made them.
“I have a chicken wing? Well, I think you have chicken legs,” is one example of how she used to counter a slam. Her experiences are fodder for her burgeoning standup routines, which have already landed her a pair of college scholarships in talent shows.
The only time she hasn’t had a comedic answer is the 134 days it took to get her Pennsylvania learner’s permit.
Jaylen had the requisite medical physical signed by her doctor when she took her permit test. After correctly answering all of the permit questions, she was told she needed her doctor to sign a neurological disorder form.
Then she had to travel to Hershey for a neuro test where she was asked: What year is it? Can you count to 20? Can you go to the bathroom by yourself?
“The government thinks that I’m mentally challenged because of a tiny left arm,” Jaylen said. “I’m still trying to come to grips with how one equates to the other. I don’t get it.”
PennDOT press officer Aimee Inama said they couldn’t speak to specific cases, but said it is the department’s policy to require additional testing if they are unsure about medical issues.
Jaylen eventually worked through the process and had adaptive equipment installed in the car so she could get her permit.
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The rocky road to success on Susquehannock's tennis court
Much like getting a learner’s permit, Jaylen learned that earning a spot on the girls tennis team was a process.
She had a solid forehand and a one-handed backhand, but the serve was a problem. Coach Michels came to her rescue.
She reached out to USTA Middle States rep Jay Witmer, who told her about a nationals competitor in a similar situation.
“He would put the ball on the strings, toss it up and serve it that way,” Michels said, “so that’s what I taught her.”
But a local tennis pro was concerned about starting the serve on the strings, afraid it would be considered a double hit. So they went back to the drawing board and came up with the serve she has now.
“She’s been such a delight to work with,” Michels said. “She wants to do so well. She’ll do whatever you told her. If she can’t do it exactly that way, she’ll adapt or find something else that would be similar to what I ask.”
Shelly Stallsmith covers York-Adams high school sports for GameTimePA and the USAToday Network. Connect with her by email mstallsmith@ydr.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @ShelStallsmith.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Susquehannock tennis player Jaylen Van Nice 'differently abled'
