CONNELL, Wash. — “Good morning ladies and gentlemen,” Chantel Kimball announced to her family gathered on the front porch of her home as her son, Ace, held aloft one of his toys as if displaying it for a room full of bidders.
Then she launched into the kind of fast-paced verbal stream only a seasoned auctioneer could deliver: “Twenty-five… I get 30… sold!”
Just another practice session. Just another day on the farm for Kimball, whose love of auctioneering runs in the family.
“My siblings are all auctioneers,” Kimball said.
Her dad, Merle, is an auctioneer, just like his dad before him.
“I worked every part of the business,” Kimball said.
But Chantel's journey to the top of her craft has been a tough sell, with pain as the highest bidder.
Kimball said, “I was definitely in a very dark place.”
In 2014, Kimball dislocated her ankle playing volleyball.
“And I couldn't walk,” she said.
The lifelong athlete was told it would take a month or two to recover. It’s been nearly a decade.
“I had a lot of false hope during that time,” Kimball said. “I went to physical therapy 70 times that year and I was still on a crutch.
Repeated surgeries only seemed to make it worse.
“I never could run. I was in so much pain. It was always swollen,” Kimball said.
Newly married at the time of her injury, Kimball relied on the support of her husband, Seath. The couple had been used to a very active lifestyle.
“Horseback riding, cliff jumping, working out and being active,” Kimball said. choking back tears, “I felt so guilty that he married somebody that…” her words trailed off, “He didn't get the person he married.”
Having children was out of the question.
“People would actually ask me sometimes on my crutches, like, ‘Are you guys gonna have kids?’ And I was just, like, really?” Kimball said. “It just made it really hard for me to even consider wanting to have children at the time because of the pain that I was in.”
A few years ago, her doctor presented her with one more possible fix, an orthotic device called ExoSym.
“Actually turned my head away. I didn't want anything to do with it,” Kimball said. “I just kind of thought that I was sick of false hope, I was sick of things not working, and I didn't expect something that was going to help me.”
She traveled to a clinic in Gig Harbor, where the was fitted for the support and trained to use it.
It did the trick, relieving the stress from her ankle and allowing her to regain her stride.
“It changed my life,” Kimball said.
With the pain finally under control, Kimball and her husband started that family they always wanted. They now have two healthy sons.
“That was the best gift, to be able to become a mom,” Kimball said.
Kimball got back into shape, and back into the auction ring.
“I just had this fire that reignited inside of me,” Kimball said.
She’s now a top benefit auctioneer, raising money for charities all across the country. Last year she took the women's top spot at the International Auctioneer Championship.
“Love what I do,” Kimball said. “and being able to win was really awesome.”
Through her struggle, Chantel Kimball has found strength enough to share.
“The trajectory of my life changed and my heart got bigger,” Kimball said. “Somebody is hurting, I'm right there with them.”
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