Listen (29 min)
Labeled a difficult child and unable to connect with other human beings, Madelaine Kelly made a cry-for-help suicide attempt before she was twelve. Today she has a loving family, a successful business and a globe-trotting life style.  Â
Shelley Berman and Adrienne Lauby talk with Madelaine Kelly.
Here’s a preview:
I started to run when I was basically five years old.
I went to school very early because my Mom didn’t know what to do with me, so they put me in school when I was five. And I was really, really tiny. I was always really tiny. And I just heard, ‘There’s a cross country race,” and I entered it. And I came so far last.
Here’s this little tiny thing coming. . .little tiny thing coming. . .here she comes. . .and everyone clapped and cheered for me.   And I thought, “I like that. That’s attention I like. So I think ‘I’ll do more of that running thing.'”
Now, I spent the next probably 25 years being in the middle of the pack… [But] when I went and got diagnosed at 40, the therapist said that athleticism — running especially, because I could do it anywhere, anyhow, anytime; I didn’t need equipment, I didn’t need anybody else — saved my life — like, literally, saved my life.
Original Air Date: 1-29-17
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