Born and raised in Michigan Keely learned to weather harsh and bitterly cold winters. The daughter of an engineer and librarian Keely was raised to value hard work and high personal standards. Keely was taught to love and obey God through a strict but loving Christian home. She and her brother learned to love nature with adventures in the woods behind her house where they spent hours exploring and playing. The entire family went on countless camping trips all over the continent. At age 10 Keely started her very first job delivering the Detroit News to the homes in her neighborhood. 

Keely's High School years were spent in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. The Missouri foothills and rivers provided a new world of outdoor adventures including camping, hiking, backpacking, mountain biking and canoeing. During her high school years Keely's doctors discovered that she had severe scoliosis. For two years Keely wore a back brace in attempts to correct the curvature of her spine. Eventually, however, surgical intervention was warranted due to the severity and rapid progression of the curvature. At age 17 Keely underwent spinal fusion surgery to fuse the vertebra in her spine. Metal rods and hooks were inserted into her back to hold everything in place.

At the end of her High School career, Keely met the man who would one day become her husband. He was the brother of her employer and they met on a carefully crafted blind date. Keely worked as a nanny during her senior year in High School. The 3 beautiful Costello children, along with their parents, devised a plan to get their uncle and baby-sitter to take them to Six Flags Amusement Park. Keely did not even realize what was being planned and she had never met James before. He was away at war with Desert Storm during the Persian Gulf War aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. 

After High School her love for the sun led Keely to Arizona for college but her love for the sailor brought her back to St. Louis after just one year. Keely finished her education in Missouri so she could be close to James and get to know him better. The weekend following graduation from college, Keely and James were married on the beach in Ocho Rios, Jamaica in May 1996. The couple was joined by a small group of family and friends. 

Back in St. Louis, Keely earned a master's degree in education and enjoyed a successful career as an educator in Montessori schools. Shebecame well respected in the world of academia. However, her longing to pursue a business career soon led Keely to start her own freelance business developing websites and conducting online marketing initiatives. In addition to her own business ventures, Keely worked for an Internet advertising agency as a project manager overseeing web development and advertising campaigns. Later in her career, Keely became the director of operations for a startup business enterprise. She helped to start Elits Packaging, a packing export company. This position afforded her the chance to travel to destination throughout Europe organizing trade show exhibitions and hiring overseas contractors. 

Keely enjoyed her career and the possibilities that the future held.  
At the height of her career, Keely was struck with a terrible intestinal disease, Clostridium Difficile (C. Diff), that left her hospitalized and deathly ill for over 6 months. She was so sick, in fact, that she was forced to quit her job. The medication she took to save her life and cure her from the disease left her with terrible complications. The drugs caused extensive nerve damage and a "domino effect" of subsequent pain and illness. Some of the diagnoses include fibromyalgia, peripheral neuropathy, degenerative disk disease, piriformis syndrome with sciatic nerve entrapment, demyelization of nerves in her legs, restless leg syndrome, alpha-delta sleep anomaly, interstitial cystitis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, to name just a few. Needless to say, Keely suffers from a considerable amount of pain. Her lifestyle changed drastically as she struggled to adapt her routine and entire way of life. In just a few short months, Keely went from jet-setting executive to a bed ridden, shrunken shell of the woman she once was.  Keely?s wonderful friends help her with daily responsibilities like laundry, housework, shopping, errands and now even childcare. Keely has found ways to manage her constant pain through various modalities including massage, physical therapy, upper cervical chiropractic, frequency specific micro current, WATSU water massage, neuromuscular stimulator, fish oil supplements, pain medication management, and many more.

In 2008 James and Keely became the proud foster parents of a six year old boy. They fell in love with his sweet spirit and genuinely kind heart. After a long legal process they were able to adopt him and make him a permanent part of their family. After nearly 13 years of infertility and just 6 months after welcoming their foster son into their lives, James and Keely learned they were pregnant! In 2009 they added a baby boy to their family and consider this precious child a true miracle considering Keely's medical challenges.

Now in her mid-30's Keely enjoys living in the warmth of the southwestern desert where her chronic pain is less volatile since the weather is more agreeable. She is thankful for her wonderful family and her own personal "angels," the wonderful people who assist her with daily functioning and without whom she would not be able to enjoy her young family. She enjoys watching her boys grow and experience the world around them. Although her life is drastically different than it was prior to all these health issues, Keely has no regrets as she lived life to the fullest while she was pain free. She lived a lifetime of adventure in less than a decade and those amazing memories will carry her through the rest of her time her on this earth.

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