Elly Siebert’s new abode was a far cry from the visual paradise she had recently left.

Shortly after the Siebert family’s Thanksgiving week vacation to California, they returned to Colorado and immediately scheduled a doctor’s appointment.

Siebert, a senior at Air Academy High School, had wrapped her final prep volleyball season weeks prior in a year marred by injuries and ailments, much different from her previous campaigns with the Kadets.

Her parents hoped the vacation would soothe Siebert’s various pains, but the West Coast trip made her conditions more noticeable.

Beach strolls became pacing around hospitals. Ocean waves were replaced with the thankfully steady tune from the EKG monitor. And roller coaster rides, well, those remained, in a manner of speaking.

The Kadets senior stayed at multiple hospitals over the next week and had blood work done, hoping to receive answers to her months’ worth of agony.

“We spent a few days in total fear,” Siebert’s mother, Lisa, said. “We didn’t know what the diagnosis was going to be. We didn’t know if we’d be there a week or a month or if we’d never come home. It was an awful period of time.”

On Dec. 5, doctors had results of Siebert’s blood work. And everyone finally had an answer.

“It was leukemia,” Siebert said. “We didn’t know for the entirety of my senior season of volleyball. … When I finally got my diagnosis and heard the plan to get rid of it, that was relieving because I knew that the pain would go away. It was like ‘knowledge is power’ at that point and I felt more in control of my body.”

Something was not right

Siebert shone in the Kadets’ third match of the season and tallied 15 kills and three blocks in a win against Pueblo East on Sept. 4.

However, around Labor Day, Siebert sustained a torn right hip labrum. The injury didn’t derail Siebert for long as she received a platelet-rich plasma injection to soothe the pain.

The PRP injections allowed Siebert to continue playing, and she remained a prominent figure for the Kadets. Siebert had 11 kills in a victory against Palmer Ridge on Sept. 23, Air Academy’s fourth consecutive victory. But a laundry list of injuries and ailments began to spoil Siebert’s senior season: back pains, tailbone aches, back spasms, sinus infections, headaches, lightheadedness, shoulder pains, chronic fatigue and dizziness.

“None of that was normal for a torn hip labrum,” Siebert said. “It was frustrating not knowing why I was having all those random symptoms and I didn’t know why I felt like crap all the time.”

Numerous visits to sports doctors, urgent care, MRIs and X-rays failed to explain Siebert’s pain. So she continued to compete.

Air Academy volleyball coach Sarah Husemann said Siebert never complained about the agony she endured. Throughout the season, Siebert remained at practice and the senior captain continued to guide her Kadet teammates on the court.

“None of us had any idea she was as sick as she was,” Husemann said. “Everything she had could be explained by something else. … She showed up for her teammates and still gave everything she had. That’s a testament to what kind of person she is and what kind of player she is and how she loves her teammates.”

Siebert concluded her prep career with 19 total kills in two regional contests against Severance and University on Nov. 7. The Kadets finished 13-12 — their first time over .500 since 2019 — and nearly clinched a state berth. But even after the season, Siebert’s discomfort never subsided.

The family traveled to California during Thanksgiving break and hoped the downtime would rejuvenate Siebert. Her father, Chad, believed the constant grind — volleyball matches, schoolwork, applying for colleges, club volleyball and other endeavors — was the culprit and rest would solve the problem. That wasn’t the case.

“We stayed at this place where you could walk to the beach, but there was a steep hill,” Chad said. “That’s not a big deal for most people and it shouldn’t be for an 18-year-old athlete. But she would hold on to her brother for some of it. There was a bench where you could see the view about halfway down and she would stop and sit on that to rest. We could tell something was not right. Something was wrong beyond injuries.”

The answer

The Sieberts returned to Colorado Springs on Nov. 29 and immediately scheduled an appointment. Siebert saw a primary care physician on Dec. 3 and had blood work done at 3 p.m. that day.

Everyone returned home, but eight hours later, Lisa received an electronic chart that detailed the lab results and Googled the information. At 11 p.m., as Lisa pored over the results, their phone rang.

“A lab in Denver analyzed them and was very concerned about her hemoglobin levels,” Lisa said. “They recommended that she get a transfusion and thought we could wait until the morning. We got off the phone and 10 minutes later they called back and said, ‘You need to go right now.’ The blood results also showed blast cells, (which) are indicative of leukemia.”

Siebert received a blood transfusion on Dec. 4 and remained at UCHealth Memorial Hospital North. That morning, the family traveled by ambulance to Children’s Hospital Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, which is where Lisa said they’d receive a “detailed diagnosis.”  

As her parents’ concerns grew, Siebert enjoyed momentary bliss. The transfusion eased most of her pains, and, albeit briefly, Siebert felt normal.  

“Not everything was fixed, but everything felt so much better,” Siebert said. “I was immediately relieved, and it’s crazy that was what was causing almost everything.”

The remainder of the week was a whirlwind. Siebert was diagnosed with leukemia on Dec. 5 — the same day as her brother Nick’s 13^th birthday — and days after being discharged, Siebert learned she was accepted into Colorado College, where she plans to play for the women’s volleyball team.

Which meant Siebert needed to make a call.

Revitalized

The first aspect of Siebert’s game that former Colorado College women’s volleyball coach Sharon Dingman noticed was the senior’s jumping abilities. For months, Siebert sent film to the veteran coach and Dingman marveled at her vertical leap.

“She has a big jump, and she’s quick off the floor,” Dingman said. “That was appealing, and when you see something like that, you’re going to dive in a little bit deeper.”

Even with a torn labrum, Dingman believed Siebert would return to full strength and make an instant impact. In early December, Dingman recalled receiving a text from Siebert that read, “When can we talk? I have medical updates for you.”

The now-retired CC coach expected information regarding a potential surgery to fix Siebert’s hip. But Siebert’s news “shocked” Dingman.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to hear ‘leukemia,’” Dingman said. “It took my breath away, and I’m sure I was silent for a while because I couldn’t catch my breath when that came out of her mouth. What helped me was how strong her voice was.”

Although temporarily floored by the news, Siebert remembered Dingman’s support and said she felt “immediate relief” when Dingman expressed empathy toward her situation.

“She told me that the whole CC team had my back and was there for me,” Siebert said. “She’s been awesome, and she sends me messages and checks up on me.”

Dingman also attended one of Siebert’s chemotherapy treatments alongside Chad. Dingman made certain Siebert understood the future Tiger is more than a name on a roster.

“It makes your heart sing when you see somebody managing it the way she is,” Dingman said. “I’ve had somebody close to me go through cancer and I know when you’re in those treatments, that’s a language you hope you never have to learn. … She needs to know this program is embracing every bit of her and that’s the amazing part. She’s going to have an amazing support group.”

Dingman was one of Siebert’s many visitors as Husemann visited shortly after the senior’s first round of chemo.

Husemann said when the Kadets’ coaching staff learned of Siebert’s diagnosis, they were “dumbfounded,” and Husemann added that she was “heartbroken.” However, seeing a vibrant Siebert in the hospital offered Husemann comfort.

“The first thing she said to me a week after getting diagnosed and getting her first rounds of chemo, she got off the elevator and said, ‘Coach, guess whose hips don’t hurt anymore?’ with a huge smile on her face,” Husemann said. “… Even after a week of chemo, she was already in good spirits and her coloring was back and she looked like she felt so much better.

“Elly has this pervasive positive attitude that she’s kept throughout this entire process.”

Embrace hard

As of January, Siebert is in remission. But Siebert and her family understand this is one chapter in a lengthy journey.

Approximately 10 to 12 months of “intense treatments” remain and Siebert explained that she still requires various checkups and tests.

“Around January 2027, I’m supposed to start ‘maintenance,’ which is still treatment, but it’s extremely different from this,” Siebert said. “It’s going to be an oral chemo pill that I’ll take once a day. I’ll still go in for lab checkups to make sure everything looks good. I’ll do that until March 2028.”

Siebert won’t play volleyball at Colorado College next season, but she hopes to return to the court in 2027. Since her transfusion and multiple rounds of chemotherapy, Siebert has participated in open gym volleyball sessions.

That fatigue, lightheadedness and various other aches that previously plagued Siebert have largely disappeared. That progress and the idea of a collegiate volleyball career continue to push Siebert.

“Knowing that I’ll play in college is what’s driving me,” Siebert said. “I know there will be times I’m bedridden the entire day and I’m probably going to throw up from chemo and it’s going to be awful. But I will play college (volleyball) at some point.”

When that moment arrives and Siebert earns her first collegiate kill, Dingman will require tissues.

“I’m going to cry,” Dingman said. “Nobody wants to embrace hard anymore and she’s embracing it. I hope this will be the biggest win of her life. I want wins when she’s actually playing to be big for her, but this is a win that no match is going to compare to when she gets out there and gets to play for the first time. And I’m confident it will happen.”