Colleen Kelly was born prematurely on February 11, 1981 at 2 lbs 7 oz., and 9 months later she was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP). The doctors told her parents Dan and Michelle that she would probably never talk, walk, or have much function in her life. Today Colleen thanks them for challenging this. They saw her intelligent sparkling eyes and her great spirited determination as she would literally crawl a mile to build physical strength in a challenging program they placed her in during her early childhood years.

At age 6, Colleen dictated short stories that her mother journaled. At age 10 she authored “The Land of the Leprechauns,” a children’s book published 4 years later of which thousands of copies were sold. Colleen not only overcame the adversity and challenges of being the 1st child with quadriplegia to enter her school system, she also functioned as a conflict mediator and received an Outstanding Achievement Award for all the positive effects she had on her school.

As a pioneer for so many individuals with physical disabilities, in her late teens Colleen volunteered for speaking engagements at various schools to talk to young children about what it is like to have CP, the pros and cons of her disability, and about overcoming adversity. She travelled to Columbus to advocate for the disabled and received the Youth Leadership Award from the Governor’s Counsel in Columbus, OH. With the help of student nurses getting her in and out of bed, and out of her dorm to the bus for classes, Colleen graduated from Kent State University with a B.A. Degree in interpersonal Communications, and a minor in Philosophy.