TUCUMCARI STUDENT-ATHLETE WON’T LET HER CONDITION SLOW HER DOWN
Caylee Benavidez is a multi-sport student-athlete from Tucumcari High School. She can’t imagine her life without some sort of competition. “I honestly couldn’t imagine that,” Caylee said. “I played sports my whole life.”
“She grew up playing soccer, basketball, tee ball, and then when she got into middle school she started playing volleyball,” said her father Patrick. “She was bound to play sports.”
Caylee’s athletic career was in jeopardy before it even started. Caylee was born with a cystic kidney. That kidney had to be removed when she was six weeks old. The doctor said sports might not be an option for Caylee, especially high contact sports. Caylee wouldn’t let her condition stop her. “Everyone who’s grown up around me knows how much I love it,” Caylee explained.
Playing with just one kidney doesn’t slow her down, even though her parents get a little nervous every now and then. “They’re still scared every time I drive to the basket or go up for a volleyball spike or dig a ball, they get nervous,” she said. “Having them as my coaches, they’re more nervous and want to take me out.”
Caylee wears a kidney guard when playing. “It’s like an undershirt, but with pads on it,” Caylee described. “I can’t forget that, or mom won’t let me play. In softball, I have to wear a hard guard, harder than football pads.”
There’s even more reason to be protective. “Two years ago, or three years ago we got a scare when they told us she was in Stage 2 Kidney failure,” said her father and coach Patrick Benavidez.
Caylee’s remaining kidney has been functioning in Stage 2. Lifestyle changes like her diet can help from preventing any further kidney disease progression. “If I maintain my weight and maintain a good diet, keep myself healthy, then I will be ok for the rest of my life, I just can’t go down to Stage 3 or 4,” she said.
Caylee says she has to hydrate with lots and lots of water, but no Gatorade because of a high sodium content which can strain the kidney. “I can’t have any of that and I can’t have Ibuprofen,” she said. “That’s hard when I get hurt or sick. I twisted my ankle a game and I couldn’t have Ibuprofen. That was difficult. I just had to get through the pain.”
She hasn’t let her condition hold her back, in fact, she’s thrived. Caylee will go on to play volleyball at Lamar Community College in the fall. “I wouldn’t be where I am without sports today,” she said. “It got me a scholarship to go to college, become what I want to be. I get to have so many friends. I would not do anything other than what I’m doing right now.”
“If she stops competing and stops exercising, then she’s going to have other health issues from not being active,” said Patrick.
Her dad says Caylee’s can-do attitude is infectious to her teammates. “They know her condition and they don’t ever see her quit, that’s just contagious,” he said. “They see her just griding and get after it and they just follow her lead.”
“It’s something I live with,” Caylee said. “You can’t live scared because then something will happen, so you just have to live in the moment. You have to live in the moment because you don’t know what tomorrow may bring.”
Caylee Benavidez is cautious in competition, but so passionate about sports to not let anything stop her.
