Every day since her time at the Steamboat Mountain School has started the same: Sidney Barbier wakes up and feels pain.
“Like sharp, stabbing pain," said Barbier, now a senior Nordic skier at the University of Denver. "There’s nothing I can do to stop it. It’s not like you can take ibuprofen and it goes away. Your new normal becomes that five or six out of 10.”
The pain became the main character in her life — everything revolved around that stabbing sensation in her gut.
"[I remember] going to a movie with my friends," Barbier recalled to Denver7. "I wanted to get out of there because it hurt so bad."
Skiing was her safe space, but even the slopes offered temporary respite.
“Being able to wake up at 6:30 a.m. and go do intervals to the best of my ability up in Frisco — that was what kept me going," she explained.
Eventually, the pain forced her into hiding.
“I was very good at hiding the story I went through, the pain I went through," she said. "I wanted to be the best teammate I could be, and the best student I could be, so I didn’t publicly share everything that was going on.”
When Denver7's Nick Rothschild asked her why she felt the need to hide what she was going through, her answer revolved around not having answers about where the discomfort was coming from.
“Because for so long, what I went through wasn’t diagnosed. I was told it was in my head," Barbier said. "I wanted to be a skier. I didn’t want to let my coaches down and my teammates down. So, I think I was like, it’s easier to not show it. Just suck it up and deal with it.”
Eventually, one doctor got the diagnosis right. Dr. Mohamed Eltemamy, MD, a urologic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, determined Barbier had nutcracker syndrome.
“Basically, it’s like you have this vein that’s being compressed, like a nut in a nutcracker," Barbier explained.
Nutcracker syndrome is the compression of your left renal (kidney) vein, usually between your abdominal aorta and superior mesenteric artery, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Barbier became the first person to ever undergo a single-port robotic renal vein transposition.
"I didn’t even know how novel my surgery was until afterwards," Barbier said.
She's now pain-free, and because of her journey, she's one of three national finalists for the 2025 Honda Inspiration Award by the Collegiate Women's Sports Awards (CWSA).
The Honda Inspiration Award recognizes a collegiate female student-athlete that has overcome significant physical or emotional adversity to return to athletic success. One of the most compelling honors in collegiate athletics, it has been awarded annually for the past 37 years across NCAA Divisions I, II, and III. Elms College softball senior Katie Cosmos and Virginia track and field senior Marlee Morgan are also finalists for this year's Inspiration Award.
“Just getting to be highlighted alongside both of them I think is winning enough for me," Barbier told Denver7.
More important to Barbier — after years of quietly hurting, she wants her story to serve as inspiration.
“[I want women] to not be afraid to share [their] story and know that there’s hope out there," she said. "There are answers [out there], even if it takes five or 10 years to get there.”
"I’ve actually had quite a few young women, all different ages, reach out to me directly," she continued. "We’re going through this together even though our experiences may be different. Being able to be that inspiration, [to show them] 'Don’t give up yet, you’re going to be OK.'”
