“I was born with Spina Bifida. I’ve never known anything different. The doctor said I wasn’t supposed to walk without the use of a walker. Eventually, my parents took it away from me, and started to push me to walk on my own. That’s how I got to where I am today. My parents have always inspired me to be active. They’re really active. My sister is too. Playing sports makes me feel like everybody else and it keeps me healthy. It makes me feel like I’m just another kid. It doesn’t make me feel like I have a disability, even though I’m competing against kids that might have disabilities, it makes me feel like an athlete, and that I can compete with everybody else. I’m going to be in high school this Fall. I’m going to be on the track team, and the swim team. I race in downhill skiing. I’m also a black belt in karate. With Spina Bifida, I don’t have very many muscles in my legs that actually work, so I have limited balance, and karate has actually helped my balance. For track and field, I’m in my racing chair so I don’t have to worry about running. For swimming, it’s all upper body. I don’t even use my legs. That gets really exhausting but it’s worth it. My health means a lot to me. I need to stay healthy so I don’t end up in the hospital and have to stop my sports for something I could have prevented. I’ve had 17 surgeries throughout my life so far. Most likely, I’m going to need a couple more, but we don’t see any in the near future. One of my goals is to go to the Paralympics. I just went to Junior Nationals. That was my first really big goal. It was a really great experience. I got to compete against kids in racing chairs that were way faster than me, so it really challenged me. I got to meet a lot of new kids. I got to meet a lot of world class coaches. It pushes me to do my best. I get down on myself sometimes about my disability, but I try to stay as upbeat as possible because I know I have to live with this, and I’m getting great opportunities. My life is pretty great. Some things I get to do, most kids don’t get to do, even if they don’t have a disability. Getting to the Olympics will take a lot of training, but I’m planning on putting in the effort to do that because that’s my biggest goal.”