Hi, I’m Kaylee A. Van Horn, MBA, the writer and voice behind Growth Beyond Obstacles. I am a healthcare professional, writer, patient advocate, lifelong learner, and Doctor of Healthcare Administration student. More importantly, I am someone who has learned that growth rarely happens according to a perfect plan. My life has been shaped by healthcare, education, leadership, relationships, grief, significant health changes, and the continuous process of discovering who I am beyond the obstacles I have faced.
My professional journey began in emergency medical services, where I spent several years working as an EMS First Responder and started my non clinical journey in the ED in registration. That experience taught me how quickly life can change and how important compassion becomes during someone’s most vulnerable moments. It also showed me that healthcare is about more than treating an illness or responding to an emergency. It is about listening, communicating, advocating, and helping people feel less alone during moments of fear and uncertainty.
I later transitioned into healthcare administration, where I discovered another important side of patient care. Although administrative professionals may not always provide direct clinical treatment, their work influences patient access, communication, scheduling, coordination, caregiver workloads, and the overall patient experience. Today, I work in cardiovascular healthcare administration, where I support physicians, coordinate complex patient needs, and help improve operational processes.
My career has helped me understand that meaningful healthcare improvement requires more than policies, technology, and performance measurements. It requires leaders who are willing to listen to the people doing the work. It requires administrators who understand that decisions made in offices and meeting rooms eventually reach the front lines, affecting patients, physicians, nurses, advanced practice providers, administrative professionals, and every other person responsible for keeping healthcare moving.
Education has become an important part of how I continue transforming my experiences into purpose. I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Leadership and Ministry from Life Pacific University in 2024. In August 2026, I completed my Master of Business Administration while balancing graduate school, a full-time healthcare career, ongoing medical challenges, wedding planning, family responsibilities, and the ordinary demands of life. Completing my MBA reminded me that I am capable of more than I once believed and that difficult seasons do not have to stop us from reaching meaningful goals.
In spring 2027, I will begin the Doctor of Healthcare Administration program at Franklin University. My long-term research interests include healthcare leadership, organizational governance, caregiver burnout, and how administrative decisions affect clinical and nonclinical employees working on the front lines. My goal is not simply to earn another degree or obtain another title. I want to use my education and experience to help create healthier healthcare environments where caregivers feel supported, patients remain at the center of decision-making, and leadership stays connected to frontline realities.
My relationship with health has also influenced nearly every part of my life. At my highest weight, I weighed 398 pounds. After years of struggling with my health, I underwent vertical sleeve gastrectomy in December 2024. That decision became the beginning of a major physical and emotional transformation. I lost more than 160 pounds, rebuilt my relationship with food and movement, and reached health milestones I once wondered if I would ever experience. One of my most meaningful victories was learning that I was officially no longer considered diabetic.
However, transformation did not mean that every health concern disappeared. I have continued navigating unexplained symptoms, blood pressure and heart-rate changes, dizziness, fainting, fatigue, gastrointestinal complications, and testing for POTS and autonomic dysfunction. I am also facing the possibility of a revision to my gastric sleeve because of severe acid-related complications. My health journey is still unfolding, and I am still learning how to advocate for myself, listen to my body, accept help, and remain hopeful when answers do not come quickly.
I share this part of my life because healing is not always a simple before-and-after story. Sometimes we can celebrate remarkable progress while facing entirely new challenges. We can be proud of how far we have come while still acknowledging that we are tired. We can be grateful for what our bodies have survived while continuing to search for answers. Both realities can exist at the same time.
I created Growth Beyond Obstacles because I wanted a place where people could encounter real stories without perfection being added afterward. Social media often shows the achievement but not the exhaustion behind it. It shows the graduation but not the late nights, self-doubt, medical appointments, grief, financial concerns, or personal responsibilities that made reaching the finish line so difficult. It shows the weight loss but not the fear, complications, changing identity, or emotional work that can accompany such a significant transformation.
I wanted to create something different.
Growth Beyond Obstacles is a place where I can write honestly about health, weight loss, education, healthcare leadership, relationships, marriage, grief, career development, spirituality, and the seasons when simply continuing forward becomes an accomplishment. The name represents the lesson I continue learning: obstacles can affect our direction, slow our progress, and change our plans, but they do not have to determine the limits of our lives.
I do not write because I have every answer. I write because I know what it feels like to search for reassurance that someone else understands. I know what it feels like to be proud of an accomplishment while privately struggling. I know what it feels like to support everyone else while wondering how much strength I have left for myself. If sharing my experiences helps one person feel less alone, view their struggle differently, or believe they can begin again, then this space is serving its purpose.
Outside of writing and healthcare, I enjoy playing the flute and piccolo, participating in community music, learning, spending time with the people I love, and finding meaningful ways to celebrate life. I am preparing for marriage, entering a new personal season, and looking forward to beginning my doctoral journey. I am also continuing to focus on my health and learning how to give myself the same patience and compassion that I so naturally offer to others.
I am ambitious, but I am learning that life cannot be measured only by degrees, job titles, goals, or accomplishments. Some of the most important growth happens quietly. It happens when we choose to attend another appointment, try again after disappointment, ask for help, set a boundary, rest without guilt, or believe there may still be something meaningful ahead of us.
My purpose continues to evolve, but its foundation remains clear. I want to help people feel seen. I want to advocate for patients and caregivers whose experiences are too easily overlooked. I want to contribute to healthcare systems where leadership decisions are informed by the people working closest to patients. I want to continue writing honestly about both the beauty and difficulty of becoming.
Most of all, I want Growth Beyond Obstacles to remind people that they are more than the hardest things they have experienced. Your life may not look the way you expected. Your journey may have taken longer than you planned. You may still be healing, rebuilding, or searching for answers.
But your story is not over.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about me and the story behind Growth Beyond Obstacles. I hope you find something here that encourages you, challenges you, or reminds you that you are not alone. Wherever you are in your journey, I hope you continue choosing growth, even when it comes slowly.
Kaylee A. Van Horn, MBA
Writer, Healthcare Professional, and Founder of Growth Beyond Obstacles
Embracing growth, no matter the struggle.