Kirby waits to be helped at Select Physical Therapy so she can get cleared to participate in cheer practice, after a month long concussion in Marin County, California on June 2, 2026. Kirby has been going to the doctors at least once a week since she was nine, and had to spend three years in and out of a wheelchair after being diagnosed with bertolotti syndrome and fibromyalgia. As a freshman in highschool, Kirby got a spinal fusion and has dealt with chronic pain, affecting her work and school life.

“I had to relearn how to walk and relearn how to do everything,” said Kirby. “It’s hard to be the pitied one in the family–I’m in chronic pain all the time. So it could be, oh, all of a sudden my, whole arm gives out or my whole leg gives out. They want me to leave the business and rest, but I’m too determined.”