Weekly Fan Feature: Chapter 10

Hey, Renegades! Last Wednesday was chapter 10 of the weekly Styx Featured Fan Story series, with the topic being to share your favorite non-Styx project, noting whether there was a song or performance in particular that inspired you. We weren't necessarily looking for a winner per se, however, when we read Kristen Denmead's very inspiring story, we wanted to feature her response as an acknowledgment to her journey and inspiration to achieve a dream. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Rock on and keep the dream going, Kristen!

"This is an amazing story about the Damn Yankees. I was 25 years old and just was going through a lot of changes.. I was laid off of my job of 9 years, moved into a wheelchair accessible apartment and started college. All these things people didn't think I could achieve it. I found out Tommy Shaw joined Damn Yankees and I purchased the first album and it made a major impact on my life. He and the guys taught me how to be a strong, brave, sensitive, creative, independent woman. I learned to try many things like, basic musicianship, drawing and most importantly singing. My real accomplishment was to win 4 gold medals,2 silver medals, and a bronze medal in The NJ Special Olympics. My favorite songs will always be Damn Yankee, Mystified and Rock City. I won a really hard race to Mystified and beat the time by almost 30 seconds. I had amazing memories and learning lessons listening to Tommy, Jack, Ted and Michael. Thanks for also giving me courage to do wheelies listening to your songs finally without falling out of my wheelchair. Sorry for my story being so long, hope you enjoy reading it!"