PAPILLION, Neb. (KMTV) — In the 90s, she was Jodi Janssen: star diver from Papillion and first Nebraskan to win State four years in a row.
Today, she's Coach Stice: entering her second season at the helm of her alma mater.
Stice's life has taken a few turns in the time in between.
She earned a scholarship to dive at Texas A&M. Then, the year after she graduated, everything changed.
"My feet went numb, my legs went numb. And I was walking on a pool deck of all places and didn't notice it was hot," Stice recalled.
Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Stice could no longer dive, until last month. She said she wanted to do it for herself. Family and friends watched on.
"Maybe it's something we can do on a daily basis. And not pay any attention to it. To her, doing it after all these years, and all the doctors' appointments and treatments and everything else that she's had. Just watching her go up that three-meter board. Just watching her go up that ladder, it brought concerns to everybody I think," said friend Russ Zeeb.
Stice herself was concerned — for a moment.
"I was very nervous. And then, in my brain, I went back to 1998," she said.
That was her last dive, and there she stood, 23 years later.
"It was amazing," she beamed.
Stice's perseverance inspires her divers as team parent Anna Serman explained.
"They have practice at six o'clock in the morning. And (Lily's) like, 'If Jodi's up, Mom, and she can get up this early and move her body, there's no excuse why I can't.'"
"MS has taught me a lot," Stice shared.
"I think of it as a blessing because I never know what the day's going to bring, but I know the day's going to be great. And it's all about your mind, body and how you react to it."
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