Sometimes we get stuck seeing things our way. Would you like to see some things through another set of eyes? Maybe it will make you think and stretch or maybe just chuckle or shed a tear. Here is my world through my eyes...
In the London Marathon this year the very last competitor to cross the finish line (the last of 36,000) was Claire Lomas. She was not only last but she passed the finish line 16 days after the race was over. Oh, she started with all the rest but that is how long it took her to complete her dream. You see Claire is not your typical athlete. She was paralyzed from the chest down in a horse riding accident back in 2007. For many people that would certainly end any dreams of marathoning. But not Claire.
How could someone paralysed from he chest down possibly complete a marathon? Well she wore the Re-walk suite. The Re-walk suit is an exoskeleton that helps people stand and walk again and is made by ARGO Medical Technologies Ltd. (Check out a video at the bottom of the blog if you would like to know more about this device.)
Back to Claire Lomas: You need to know that even with the suit it took a lot of practice for her to be able to walk that distance in that suit. One thing that the suit has not overcome is keeping balance and that is the reason for the need of the canes. You may have noticed Claire's husband Dan walking in step with her to help her maintain her balance. If you look closely at the video below you can even see her daughter Maize too.
Claire has clearly done something that many thought was impossible and I for one am grateful for her sacrifice to once again show the world that desire and effort can come together to do the impossible.
Due to the rules of the marathon, Claire did not receive a medal when she completed it so many days late. But several of the runners who did receive a medal donated them to her for her great effort.
Here is the video about the Re-walker. Interestingly enough Dr. Amit Goffer the designer of the Re-walker is himself in a wheel chair and though he has designed the Re-walker it is not able to help him to overcome his physical problems to be able to walk.
I don't know who to tell you the hero is here. Or maybe more accurately put, there were lots of heroes here. Lets start with Cory Weissman. Cory played basketball at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. He was a 1000 point scoring guard in High School and his freshman year at Gettysburg he played a little but did not score.
Shortly following the his freshman year he had a major stroke while lifting weights with a teammate in the gym. He was rushed to the hospital and had some close calls before he was discharged to a rehabilitation hospital just 11 days after the stroke.
His type of stroke has a 50 percent mortality rate and the other 50 percent have resulting major disabilities through the rest of their life. Cory worked hard at rehabilitation and progressed to using crutches to walk (his left side was paralyzed. His mother was a rehab specialist and she would take him daily to shoot baskets with his right arm since his left arm didn't work.
Time when on and Cory's goal was to return to basketball. Finally a year later he was able to keep the clock and stats book for his team at practices. Eventually he worked so that he could get back on the court and work out with his teammates at practices and finally he was able to be the guard for the scout team to help his teammates prepare for other teams.
Coach Petrie
Coach Nugent
He didn't give up but he wasn't really well enough to play in a game. Finally in his senior year his coach allowed him to dress for the games and he sat the bench cheering on his fellow teammates. He was voted as a team captain even though he wasn't expected to play. The last home game came around, senior night, and his coach, George Petrie, worked out a plan with the apposing coach,
Rob Nugent for the Washington College of Chesterton, so that Cory could start and achieve his dream of playing, even starting in a college game.
The plan was for him to play a token few seconds at the beginning. After accomplishing that to the applause of BOTH teams and the Gettysburg fans he retired to the bench. Surprisingly Gettysburg found itself ahead by 18 points at the end of the game and the coach asked him if he wanted to go in for the last minute of the game. Needless to say he was ecstatic and jumped at the opportunity. In he went. Chesterton scored a basket still behind by too many points to have a chance to win. He surprisingly called a time out.
Coach Nugent gathered his players around and told his players the strategy. The plan was to foul Cory--gently-- to give him two free throws. After the timeout Coach Nugent gave a hand signal to Coach Petrie across the court to tell him they were going to foul. The inbounds pass came to Cory. He was guarded closely by a Cheterton player who promptly grabbed Cory's jersey and tugged a little. Immediately the referee called a foul and because they were in the double bonus he went to the line to shoot two shots.
Both teams were now on their feet clapping and yelling Cory on. The audience, fans for both teams figured out what was happening and the whole gym was on its feet urging Cory to score his first points in his only start and last game as a college basketball player. Cory went to the line and was nervous as every person in the gym was yelling for his success. It was a lot of pressure. He shot the first shot and just barely hit the rim and bounced away. Immediately everyone was quiet as several hoped and some prayed for him to make the second shot.
Cory actually was quite an accomplished free throw shooter. Even after his stroke and much rehabilitation he had become a good free throw shooter, often making ten and twelve free throws in a row...after missing the first one.
So he looked at the basket, calmed himself and shot...and scored his point. The gym burst into a raucous applause for the young man who had put in three extensive years of rehabilitation to score that one point and fulfill another dream.
Hurray for Cory Weismann. Thank goodness for Coach Petrie who wouldn't let the opportunity by to start surely his hardest working player and then let him play the last seconds in the game. Then thank goodness for Coach Nugent who saw an opportunity to do the right thing even though the game had gotten away from him. Kudos to the players from both teams that cheered Cory on and for all the fans who wanted him to succeed regardless of their affiliation. That night there was a plethora of heroes in that gym.
It turns out that win made Coach Petrie the winningest coach in the History of Gettysburg College. So of course he was awarded the game ball. He took the ball and gave it to Cory to commemorate his victory of overcoming his stroke to reach his goals of playing and scoring in a college basketball game.
Here's a video that tells his story in about five minutes:
Here is another one of my favorite songs by William Joseph called Heroes. If you think it is a little tame for you wait until the second minute and then you will see what I like about it. Enjoy!
Recently I came across an article about Samuel Batts who was the first black police officer in a small town in Virginia. In 1963 he became a police officer instead of joining the groups of protesters. He was attempting to do something to make things better rather than complain about how things were.
He found out quickly that was not an easy thing to do. As would be expected at that time in the South he ran up against white people that wouldn't respect his authority as a policeman and who would goad him because of the color of his skin. Additionally he was harassed from those with his same color of skin because he had sold out to the whites and joined them. He said that he and his young wife and little baby sometimes had protesters come to their house, yelling names at him and even had death threats.
He stuck with his efforts and over time was able to not only be a good example but to make it easier for more black people to get involved in making policy and being a part of leading the city. Interestingly in the article he mentioned that now he thinks that people are hired because they are black and not always because they are the best applicant.
The thing about Samuel Batts that makes him a hero for me is only partly because he did something that in his time was new and controversial but yet good and honorable. The positive attitude that he chose to do it with is what really moves him up into the hero sphere.
It seems our world constantly needs good men and women to step forward and move us into better practices in our societies. Whether those people have light or dark skin, regardless of religion or nationality, we need them to step forward and help others have a vision of a better world. We need them locally as well as nationally, as well as world leaders.
I hope we can find those leaders in our lives today and be inspired to each be a better person ourselves.
