An all-consuming physical pain that eluded doctors and specialists used to be an everyday part of a local young woman’s life. But her situation changed about five months ago by an experience that she can describe only as miraculous.

Kelsi Stover, a 2008 Benjamin Logan High School graduate, first encountered the overwhelming pain in her chest when she was 13 years old and was running during a cross country meet. She collapsed at the event, and those around her thought she was simply having side cramps because she didn’t stretch.

However, Ms. Stover said she was in constant pain for the next six years beginning with that moment.

“It hurt to breathe, walk, shower, to do anything from that point on. As I got tired and stressed out, it got worse — sometimes a shooting pain, sometimes aching.”

The 20-year-old was born with a hemangioma — a birthmark common in newborns that usually does not produce adverse side effects — around her right rib cage. When Ms. Stover was an infant, the vascular lesion took on the appearance of a bruise, and then gradually faded to a brown color as she grew. However, the hemangioma’s purplish hue came back the day of the cross country meet, accompanied by the intense pain that she had never before endured.

As a result, Ms. Stover and her mother, Roberta, began a quest to find out what was causing these issues that were disrupting the then 13-year-old’s life and causing her to miss many days of school and quit her athletic activities. They visited more than 32 specialists in Ohio, Detroit, Philadelphia, and a world-renowned source on hemangiomas in New York City.

She was instructed to try various lotions, pain medicines, and even wear a portable Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation unit that sends electrical impulses to parts of the body to block pain signals, but nothing was producing results.

“I went to more than 32 specialists, but no one knew what to do,” Ms. Stover said. “Some of the doctors told me the pain was all in my head, but my skin was changing colors.”

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