Every athlete’s worst nightmare is a career-ending injury, or worse: a career-ending health condition.

No one knows that fear better than Taylor Williamson. In her four-year career with the Minnesota Gopher women’s hockey team, Williamson received not one but two potentially career-ending diagnoses. The first was an arachnoid cyst on her brain, the second was being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG) - an incurable disease - but she didn’t let that stop her.

With the help of medication, physical therapy, and a lot of determination, Williamson was able to finish her career on the ice - and help the Gophers reach college hockey’s biggest stage.

Williamson, who skated with the Gophers from 2015-19, started noticing strange symptoms following her sophomore season in 2017. During a trip to Arizona with teammates, she found she had difficulty speaking late at night. She told her mom, and an MRI revealed a fluid-filled sac the size of a fist on her brain. She underwent emergency surgery less than 24 hours later.

The symptoms cleared up, and Williamson went to Germany for the summer to study. While abroad, the symptoms returned en masse. Now, along with difficulty speaking, she had muscle weakness, a droopy right eye, and trouble eating and swallowing. Several of her teammates that were with her in Arizona before her cyst was removed were also abroad that summer, and they quickly realized their friend still wasn’t right.

Still, Williamson reported to Minneapolis for preseason training in July 2017, and things went from bad to worse. Her shot lacked the speed and snap it once had. She struggled skating. And now, she had double vision. She put in the work, and was in the lineup for the team’s first game of the 2017-18 season. After the first period when the team went to the locker room, Williamson told a teammate that she wasn’t doing well, and she didn’t return to the game.

Instead of returning to the ice, Williamson made another visit to the emergency room. An MRI ruled out anything neurological, and a physician suggested MG. Williamson was prescribed three medications, which helped, but she was struggling to regain strength - she couldn’t even put her hair in a ponytail because her arms were so weak. She sought out the help of Neil Sheehy, a family friend and former NHL player who practices neuromuscular therapy.

After her first session with Sheehy, Williamson could do a burpee - with her hands over her head - and she regained hope. She continued working with Sheehy, and on Jan. 13, 2018, she returned to the Gopher lineup against Vermont. That season, she recorded three goals and three assists - including the game-winning goal in the WCHA final to help Minnesota secure the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

While Williamson - who won a national title with the Gophers in 2016 - wasn’t able to add a second national title to her resume before graduating, she said she’s just blessed to be back on the ice, playing the game that she loves.

Williamson knows others haven’t been nearly as lucky, and not everyone who suffers from MG is able to gain back control of their life. In order to raise awareness for the disease and money to establish a Myasthenia Gravis and MDA Center of Excellence for people and families in Minnesota, Williamson and her dad, Dean, rode in the 2022 Triple Bypass Bike Race - a one-day, 116-mile bike ride from Evergreen to Vail, Colorado, with more than 10,000 feet of elevation change. In 2023, they hosted the #picklingforaprayer pickleball tournament to bring their total to nearly $250,000 to help support other families who receive the same diagnosis Taylor did nearly six years ago - and helping them get their lives back.