National Junior Disability Championships 2010 - Chicago

Well, I have to add a disclaimer to the beginning of this post.  This is all second hand information for me.  As most of you know my husband Beau is a youth pastor and long before we knew anything about the NJDC we had planned a mission trip with our youth group that very same week.  We wanted Bryson to be able to go to the nationals when we found out about it but knew we could not go ourselves.  My parents were going to be watching our kids during the mission trip so we asked Beau's parents if they would be interested in taking Bryson to the nationals.  They were more then willing - which we are so thankful for - so any pictures and information I have came from them. 

Getting there & arriving at Chicago

Long drive - but nothing a little DS won't help!

 The loot from the welcome bag!

Activities for the athletes to experience & enjoy

  

 

 

pretty sure he was showing off his muscles

It sounded to me like these experiences and the new relationships he made were worth the trip in itsself.  The competition was just secondary.  These are the parts I wish I could've been there to see.  I could see him swim anytime but these moments seem priceless.  You take a kid who all year gets to see very few other kids that are like him and then put him in a place where he sees other kids like him and he just blossoms.  You can just see the joy and excitement on his face.  Really I can't wait to get to take him this summer.

The Opening Ceremony

Bryson's team that was there for the ceremony "Wayne County Wildcats"

Parade of athletes - check out Bryson - he is forgetting to stay with his team.

Just love how excited and proud he looks - I'm sure around here nobody even noticed his leg.

 Bryson with some of the other athletes enjoying the performance

This was the Jesse White Tumbling Team - Bryson was pretty impressed!

New Friends!

The Competition

Like I told you before, the competition really became secondary.  From what I hear Bryson was a little tired and really didn't have his best times.  I saw the videos and he even looked a little sluggish.  It was a whole different atmosphere at these competitions compared to what he was used to.  He had weird practice times, races in the evenings (late for Bryson) and he would have to be alone waiting for his turn for a long time - only coaches and swimmers were allowed by the pool so the grandparents were up in the stands.  He had his DS to keep him company but it also became a little of a distraction from what I hear.  That being said, even though his times were slower he was able to place in the nationals.  Here's what he got:

25 M back - 2nd place

25 M Free - 1st place

50 M back - 2nd place

50 M free - 2nd place

Not bad for his first nationals!  It will be fun to see how he improves this year.  Just the maturity and the growth of his body will be a huge advantage from where he was during this competition.  Again this year we only let Bryson compete in the swimming competitions because we didn't know what he would be able handle, but there really are so many more events he could be participating in.  Hopefully we will get him into some of the track and field events this year.  I'm sure it would be a huge confidence booster for him to be able to race against people with his same abilities.



Experiencing a basketball wheelchair - looks like he enjoyed it.

Playing soccer with his new friend.  His new friend had no legs or arms, but Bryson wasn't about to cut him any slack and I don't think the guy wanted him to.  Pretty cool!

Dressed in his pjs and ready to head back to Ohio



My favorite picture from the week - man I love this guy!

West Virginia Games - Finally!

Well, with the new year, again, I have decided to do more posting about Bryson. The reason for this blog is not to brag about my kids - if I wanted to do that I would post about all four of my children (you can see that on my facebook). I really want this blog to speak of God's redeeming power: how He can take a horrible lawnmower accident and turn it into a beautiful story of hope and joy and I would also like it to be an encouragement for others going through similar circumstances. I hope to not only be sharing the good, but also the bad, the sad, the hard questions. I will try my best to be authentic through it all.

So about West Virginia games - kind of left the blog hanging after that, but if you have any connections to our family at all you probably heard the results. Bryson got 1st in each of the events he swam in (25 back & free, 50 back & free) and got his best times. He did standing dives this time which might have helped his times some but you could also tell he was really enjoying the competition. So, with no problem he was on his way to the Nationals in Chicago.

The best parts about these events is that it builds confidence but it is also a great place to meet others with disabilities. I know I have said this before, but Bryson is very sensative to people with disabilities. He really cares about them and loves being with people like himself. I love it that he is very comfortable in these situations and it has rubbed off on my other children. We hope to continue attending these events.

At this competition Bryson got to talk with a news reporter. He really had no idea how to answer the questions but it was cute. He was getting asked some pretty deep questions for a 7 year old. He only knew he was there to swim and to have fun, so asking him questions about what that meant to him went really far over his head. Well, anyway, it made for some cute pictures.

Ready for Nationals!

Ohio Wheelchair Games

Have you ever heard of it? The Ohio Wheelchair Games is an athletic event for parathletes. I don't know all of the details, but I do know they have track events and swimming events and this year Bryson was old enough to be in the swimming events. You have to at least be 7 years old to be in the junior competitions. It is a pretty cool event where the athletes will compete against other people in their age group and classification (that being differing levels of ability). We heard about the event through the swimming team Bryson is a part of through The Adaptive Sports of Ohio nonprofit organization. (They have a website http://www.ohioadaptivesports.com/ if you are interested.) Bryson did an amazing job and he loved racing! He came in first place in the four events he competed in, but I will have to be honest and tell you that I'm sure there wasn't anyone competing in his age and classification level for the swimming. He did race against other people, which he enjoyed, but his place didn't matter because he wasn't technically competing against them. It was so much fun to watch him race. We had been timing him in practice, but nothing prepared us for how well he would do when he was actually competing. He had his best times in each event he did! And as he finished each race he was beaming! I think it helped that he had quite the cheering section, grandma, grandpas, an uncle and aunt, cousins, and even I think would be a third cousin. (Thanks to all)Even Brutus came down to visit the athletes (I forgot to mention that the swimming events took place in the class pool at OSU).

We are reminded often as we watch him swim that one of Beau's first comments to his mom after his lawnmower accident was "and he was just learning how to swim..." At that time we really didn't know what Bryson would be capable of but look at him now! He is a much better swimmer than I am!

Since Bryson enjoyed the swimming competition soon we will be headed to West Virginia for another one. The Ohio Wheelchair games was not a sanctioned event this year (which means their times won't qualify for nationals) so that's why we are doing another competition. If he does as well at this one it looks like he could go to the Junior Nationals in Chicago during the summer.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention that on Monday of this week we got a call from someone at the Ohio Wheelchair games telling us that Bryson's metals are in the mail and that there would also be another award in there because Bryson was awarded the Rookie of the Year for the games - how cool is that! I'm really not sure how many rookies actually competed, but I know that he is proud of himself for it and so are we.

I included some pictures and videos of the event. Bryson swam the 25 Freestyle, 50 Freestyle, 25 Backstroke, and the 50 Backstroke.

Enjoy!

Thought I was done

I pretty much thought I was done with this blog. It is not that Bryson still isn't doing amazing things or doing new things, but I just got busy - yes, like many of you. I didn't feel that I had time to sit down and blog anymore - still not sure how faithful I will be - but I have had many people ask me how Bryson is doing, wanting to see pictures and videos of the new things he has been doing, and asking all kinds of questions about his leg.

So this post is about Bryson's baseball season. Yes, we are at it again. He is now in Farm B. Beau is his coach and they are loving it together. Bryson gets to play catcher a lot right now which is really good. We have been waiting on a new leg now for about a month because the one he has now is literally falling apart, is too short, and giving him sores. I can tell that after a long day of school, playing out on recess, and then going to a game he really starts to limp and complains of his leg hurting. One game he even sat out half of the game because it was hurting him and he was not happy about that - so, for now, the catcher is a great position for him.

Side note on Bryson's leg - it should be completely ready this Friday. It is the first all new leg that he has gotten. The other times they just replaced parts. Bryson is really excited about his new leg and we are too. After we get this leg we are also beginning the process of getting an athletic leg for him which should help with his running. It is the kind of leg that has a curved metal bar at the bottom - you have probably seen it on tv before.

Anyway, back to baseball...Bryson is loving it. He hits the ball at most times up to bat, but he pretty much aimes the ball at the pitcher or 1st base man, so he usually does get out on first base. We have told him how important is to hit the ball and advance the runners even if he does not get on base himself. What I love most about this kid is that even when he gets out on first base he is all smiles as he is running back to the dugout. I have included a picture so you can see what I mean. He has gotten on base this season though and he has also made it home twice. When he does that you would think he just won the World Series. Too Cute!

I am also very impressed with the fans from the other teams. You don't know how many people from the other team cheer for Bryson when he hits the ball and gets on base and also the coaches from the other team you make is a point to tell Bryson he is doing a great job! God has certainly blessed us with so much support and we are truly thankful!

Now here are the pics:

Muscles and the XeroSox

I really try to make some posts informative because I know that there are some readers out there who also have children who are amputees and that's one of the reasons for this post.

Last summer when we went to the beach with my family we had quite the problem. Before we left we had looked at water legs that Bryson could use at the beach but they were just too exensive to buy for just a week at the beach. We knew that Bryson could get his prosthetic leg wet, but what we didn't think about was what the salt water and sand would do to it. He was only in the water once with his prosthetic and the knee froze and so for the rest of the week he could not bend his knee. This year we knew we would be headed to the beach again for shorter time and really wanted Bryson to be able to play in the water with the other kids, running in and out of the waves. We started doing our research for cheaper options and this is what we found. It is called the "XeroSox." This can be used by people with prosthetics as well as people with casts. I don't remember exactly how much it was but I know it was under $100. The size we had to get for Bryson was a little big and hard to get on, but we made it work. And I'm happy to say it worked. He was able to play at the beach - as you can see from these pictures - and when we left his leg still worked. Because the XeroSox that we bought was so much bigger than Bryson's leg we should be able to use it for a couple years.

I did also want to let you know that when we went to a water park this summer we let Bryson go onto the slides with his prosthetic leg on and it didn't do any damage to it. He couldn't leave it on all the time because water would get into the top and drive him crazy but it did help that we didn't have to carry him through most of the lines. It is so nice to be getting some of this stuff figured out now. It would've been nice for us to find some of this stuff out from other people which is why I decided to post about it. Hopefully, this will help somebody else out.

Now about the "muscles"...

Beau texted this picture to his Dad while we were on vacation. We didn't think twice about it. We never really thought about his muslces, although he loves to flex them until we saw this picture again when we got home. We were shocked to see Bryson's defined muscles. I guess we should've thought about it since he does over compensate for the missing leg with his upper body, but we didn't. Anyway, here is what defined muslces look like on a 6 year old.