'Catching Kayla' Appears on ESPN E:60

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Mount Tabor High School senior Kayla Montgomery is not your typical high school athlete.

Instead of just worrying about her races for the Winston-Salem, N.C. school, or getting a date for the prom and other typical teenage fears, she's fighting Multiple Sclerosis.

Montgomery entered the year, according to ESPN's "E:60" with a big goal, to win the state Cross Country Championship, something she accomplished despite facing hurdles that would have kept most people from running.

When Montgomery runs her legs go totally numb from the disease which causes nerve damage and interferes with communication between her brain, spinal cord and legs.

She was first diagnosed at 14 and has been battling the disease with a grace that would not be expected of someone her age.

But running has helped her stay ahead of MS and she has refused to slow down even if her coach Patrick Cromwell has to be there to catch her at the end of each race because she has trouble stopping and often finds her legs go out from under her when she does.

That has not deterred her from pushing forward.

"When I'm running, it's when I feel happiest, she said. "It's when I feel safest from my own body. It's difficult to live with a disease where your own body is fighting against you."

Running has been the saving grace for Montgomery, the thing that has helped her cope with her diagnosis.

She told E:60 that when she's running she "feels like I'm battling" and when the race ends, she has the support of her coach.

"When the race first starts, I feel everything.

I can feel my legs moving and I can feel the start of pain and after reaching the first mile marker, I've started to lose most feeling in my legs," Montgomery told NPR earlier this year.

"The momentum is kind of what keeps my legs moving and once I stop, they just kind of fall off from underneath me."

When that happens Cromwell is there to catch her and carry as she has done for her team propelling them to countless victories.

See the "E:60" preview of the piece here.