In the roller-skating rink, Valeri Borstelmann is a tough Bradentucky Bomber in the Women’s Flat-Track Roller Derby League. She can handle a tumble and the subsequent bruises — or split lip — that are just about inevitable in the contact sport of roller derby.
Borstelmann founded the Bombers in 2006. Team motto: “Strong Women Rolling for a Strong Community.”
But her true mettle was tested off the rink last October, when she got a life-changing medical diagnosis that could have knocked the wind right out of her. The Ballard Elementary School art teacher, who plays guitar in a punk rock band in addition to practicing with the Bombers two to three nights a week, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Only four months after being told she had a chronic disease that, at worst, eventually might blind her or make her legs immobile, Borstelmann is doing all of her favorite things including being back with the Bombers for the 2012 season.
“I thought about it. Can I play roller derby and do I want to? I decided that there might be a chance that I couldn’t use my legs in the future, so I was going to use them now,” said Borstelmann, who is 34.
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