Marin Morrison

We were honored to get to know many of the Para-athletes in Beijing. They all have incredible stories to tell and we are proud of all of them. One young lady, we failed to get to know much. Her name was Marin Morrison. Marin came to our attention through a mutual friend, Glenn Mills, who was instrumental in setting up Dave's original website and produces Dave's swimming DVD's.

Marin was an up and coming swimmer when she was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2005. Yep, the same year, Dave broke his back. Marin had several surgeries but was still training in the water. She, too, tried out for the Paralympic team in Minneapolis. We were able to talk to some her family/fans but still didn't meet her. She made the team just like David did. She went home to celebrate with another surgery just like David did. Her surgery was again on her brain - Dave's was on his spinal cord. Marin was quite a fighter and battled her deteriorating health all summer long. It seemed to us that it was a touch and go situation and her dream of participating in the Paralympics might not come true. She wasn't able to be with the team the entire time but she did make it to Beijing and she swam all her events.

When a person competes in the Paralympics, s/he has to be classified according to disability. This isn't an ongoing thing - classification seems to be set for a period of time before an athlete can be re-classified. Therefore, Marin was classified at a certain level but by the time she swam in the Paralympics her disability had further deteriorated. She basically swam all her races with one arm and bit of a kick with one leg. And she did that up against less disabled athletes. On one of her races, the entire crowd in the Cube stood and cheered her on. Another moment for tears to stream down faces.

I am sad to report that Marin passed away on January 2. Her family will be setting up a memorial scholarship to remember her courageous life. You can check out the details at their website: http://www.caringbridge.org/ga/marin/. While we didn't get to meet her personally, we do admire what she accomplished in her young life.

A few months later

Dave has been busy touring the country giving his presentations and clinics. I haven't heard the latest so I'm not sure how it has changed since he became a paralympian. However, we still get unsolicited comments from many hearers and it sounds like he is still making an impact with his message. I can't remember a time in my life that I didn't want to be a mother. I am blessed to be a mother to a couple of terrific people. David has figured out how to make lemondade out of lemons. He knows he has been tested and continues to find strength in his family, his friends and his faith. Karyn, my daughter, continues to amaze me with how well she raises her young sons. Some of it imitates me which honors me, but some of it is so new and innovative that I wished I had thought of that!

So well done, kiddoes. Keep up being the terrific adults you have become. I am proud of you both!

2 New Posts

I've add a link for the pictures I took while I was in Beijing. I also grabbed a few photos from Zack and Jerrica (their's were better). So thank you, Zack and Jerrica for being such great photographers. Also, I did add some of my thoughts (the blog just below this one) about our time in Beijing. Enjoy and thanks for reading my blog - it was fun reading your responses.

Thoughts on the Paralympics

My brain isn’t as mushy now and I’ve thought about the Paralympics since I’ve been home. I am so impressed with the athletes I got to see. Of course, I am biased towards my own son, David, and so proud of him for deciding to get back into the “swim” of things after his accident. If it wasn’t for him, we would have probably never ventured a trip to China. I saw many of the other athletes because China TV had events on everyday, all day. I saw disabilities of many classifications and marveled at their competitive spirit.

I saw fans come together and cheer the athletes. It didn’t take long to overlook whatever disability the athlete had to overcome and just see the athlete’s ability. The Paralympic theme of Trancendence, Equality, and Integration became internalized. The trancendance was for me – to see the athlete and not the disability. The equality is for the athlete and the family – venues to compete in that are equal to what the able body athletes get to compete in. After talking to family members, I was told that Beijing took this theme of equality to a new level. And yet more could be done – live coverage or even sports updates within different media for these athletes were not available everywhere. Accessibility to get around was much improved in China but more could still be done as in other countries including the USA.
These disabled athletes are courageous as they integrate into society whether at school, with other able bodied athletes they train with, or in the work place. Their families have supported them and probably fought many battles with and for them to be included in society in as many ways as possible. The Paralympic Venue brought all these elements together to share the notion that a disability doesn’t have to be a handicap.

For me, I saw the hand of God whether it was keeping us safe in a huge, unfamiliar foreign city governed by a Communist regime, or helping us find a lost cell phone within a few hours of losing it. Mostly, I saw how God works in human beings to give hope to difficult situations. These families and fans came together because life is hard. Some athletes were born with their disabilities, others acquired them through disease or accidents, yet because human beings are instilled with the characteristics of hope, love, charity and faith, we got to see them excel and live a full life. With more knowledge and awareness of the possibilities available more disabled people can get into the “swim” of things, too.

We're Home!

We left Beijing on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 3:45 pm. After a 12 hour flight we arrived in Newark on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 4:30 pm. Crossing the dateline sure messes with my time frame. We got through customs and caught our plane to Houston. I know that was a weird scheduling thing, but it got us home 3 hours earlier. We rented a hotel in Houston and got about 6 hours of stretch out time. I got some good sleep in those 6 hours. We boarded our plane to Denver at 7:30 am and were in Denver 9:15 am. Our luggage followed us all the way.

We are now in Torrington. I am feeling a little tingly after going through all those time zones but we should reset our internal clocks with a good night's rest.

I have lots of thoughts about my first Paralympic Competition and maybe I will share those thoughts soon - when my brain doesn't feel mushy. Keep checking back. I hope to have some of the pictures up too.

4th Place Finish

What an exciting race it was! The guys knocked 3 seconds off their morning's time. We are so proud of them. It has been an exhausting day. The seating in the Cube is general seating - so fans have to arrive 2 hours early to get seats together. It has become a race as soon as the gates open. I think it should be a new event in Paralympic competition - the fan dash. Greece decided they wanted our seats and it got a little crazy but we finally figured it all out in the end.

Gotta pack - going home tomorrow! Glad the coverage was good.

First place Seed!

USA's 4X50 Medley Relay - 20 point was this morning. The four men who swam it were awesome and they will be the same 4 tonight. Lantz Lamback S7 swam the lead leg of backstroke, Dave SB4 swam the Breaststroke leg, Roy Perkins - S5 swam the butterfly and Joe McCartney S4 swam the last freestyle leg. Those fans in the stands who are in the know told us that our team could go faster tonight. Also there are a couple of teams that will have faster swimmers in the relay tonight. Our team's time was 2.46:40. Whoohoo - we were rocking the stands with that one.

We also have a 4X100 - 34 point relay tonight. I think we are seeded 4th for that one. We have several swimmers going to finals so it will be an exciting way to end 9 days of swimming.

Jerrica and I didn't eat bugs but we saw them. About the time I was ready to dare her to do so the stands closed down. Good timing on my part, eh? Zack and Jerrica have hoofed all over this town seeing more than you can imagine. We have seen enough to feel like we have been in China. We have haggled at flea markets with a bazaar type feel. We have haggled in the "discount" markets. After a while that gets annoying - if you make eye contact with any of them, they grab your arm and drag you in. They will not let go until you buy something - unless you are Zack. He got blocked into one spot - I'm not sure how long but he refused to buy, they finally let him go. I usually cave because I do want something and the more I look the more tired I became. I think I got some deals but after awhile, I just wished they'd give me a fair price and let me go on my way.

We tried to find a street fair yesterday. These next few days are "happy mid-autumn" Festival. We got lost and turned around. Finally grabbed a cab that would drop me off to finish up shopping and then take Tom back to the apartment. As I was leaving the market to go home, I looked for my paper that tells the driver where to go. I couldn't find it. There are volunteer stands all over Beijing. Most of these folks speak enough English to confuse things. However, they very much want to help. My new best friends did finally figure out where I wanted to go and wrote down the directions. It was a piece of cake after that.

We all went out to try Peking Duck last night. Probably the swankiest restaurant I've been in since we've been here. The duck is served family style and the duck is 198 RMB then with all the condiments - we threw a couple more beers on top of that. I think the bill came to 425 RMB with tip. that's about $65. It was a lovely meal. Zack did a terrific job ordering it for us. He had it when he was in Beijing before so he was the expert among us.

Our plane leaves here at 3:45 on the 16th. We arrive in Denver the 17th. By the time you wake up, you should know how our men did with their Relay. It should be very very exciting.