About Us
At Simply Complex Stories, we create books that provide comfort and foster inclusion by presenting medical diagnoses and disabilities in a relatable but accurate way.
In doing this, we believe we can provide support for children and families faced with medical diagnoses as well as create a more inclusive world through education, understanding, and empathy.
Disability and medical complexity is a normal part of life and every child deserves to see themselves, and their peers, reflected in the stories they read.
Hailey Adkisson
Founder, CEO
Hailey lives in Salem, Oregon with her husband, Derek, and three children: Wyatt, Nolan and Juniper.
At six months old, Juniper was diagnosed with a rare and catastrophic form of pediatric epilepsy called Infantile Spasms. In that moment, Hailey was thrust into a world of medical complexity and disability that she was very unfamiliar with. To cope with this new life, and provide the best support for her daughter, Hailey began an Instagram account called @growing_juniper where she details her journey of grief and gratitude. In doing so, she connected with other medical families throughout the world. In a life that can be very isolating, this community gave her strength and inspired her advocacy towards epilepsy, disability, and inclusion.
When she is not writing and advocating, she works as a faculty member in the Communication Studies Department at a local community college. In her free time, Hailey enjoys spending time outdoors with her family, digging in the dirt, crossword puzzles, and sipping microbrews.
Kelsey Diaz
Founder, CCO
Kelsey is a San Diego native and enjoys the (mostly) sunny days with her husband, David, her son, Rafa, and two dogs Mabel and Xochitl.
Rafa was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Baraitser Winter Syndrome, and is a curious, determined, joyful little explorer. Though the last four years have been seen grief, fear, intense stress, and trauma, Kelsey found community and validation through the shared experiences of other caretaker parents, and even more so by connecting with and listening to disabled adults. She is now dedicated to dismantling ableism (including her own), and advocating for disability rights and radical inclusion. 🩵♿️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
Kelsey is a lifelong artist and creative with a degree in physiology and neuroscience, a unique background perfectly suited to science and medical illustration. In addition to caretaking/parenting and other adulting activities Kelsey enjoys creating art as much as possible, playing with fashion and supporting fat beauty, being a summer beach bum, crochet, home design, any excuse to dance, and a good project management tool. She is still awaiting her Hogwarts letter and has her Ravenclaw robes at the ready.
The story behind Simply Complex Stories
When Hailey’s son, Nolan was in first grade, he was struggling with his sister being “different” from his peers and didn’t know how to talk to them about her epilepsy and disabilities. In order to support Nolan and educate his classmates, Hailey was invited to speak to his class about epilepsy. In preparation, she scoured for children’s books about epilepsy. While they all shared important information, they didn’t align with how she talked to her children about epilepsy and disability; in a medically accurate but easy to understand way. So, Hailey decided to write her own book. But who would illustrate it? Through the power of social media, Kelsey came on board. Within a few months, they had an initial draft of their first children’s book: “What is Epilepsy? A Simple Explanation of a Complex Diagnosis”.
When presenting to Nolan’s class, Hailey was blown away by how engaged the 6 and 7 year olds were with the book. They were eager to learn correct terminology, loved the artwork depicting different brain structures, and asked outstanding questions. By the end of the presentation, Nolan’s peers were celebrating Juniper, rather than fearing her disabilities.
When the book was finally published in October 2023, accounts similar to her experience in Nolan’s class were shared with her. Siblings loved seeing their brother or sister FINALLY represented in a children’s book. Children with epilepsy were thrilled to see a treatment they received depicted. Even non-epilepsy families were sharing how their children read the book over and over at bedtime and asked wonderful questions.
That’s when both Hailey and Kelsey realized they were on to something new and important. Not only could books like this become a valuable resource to children and families facing medical diagnoses, but they could foster inclusion through presenting medically accurate information in an easy to understand way. From there, Simply Complex Stories was born with the belief that curiosity leads to understanding, understanding leads to empathy, and empathy leads to inclusion. But more importantly, with the belief that EVERY child deserves their story to be told.