Brendan Foster - a young hero for all

In memory of Brendan Foster, who died November 21, 2008.

Brendan Foster (1997 - 2008) was a victim of leukemia . Before Foster died, he expressed his last few generous wishes. Brendan Foster wanted to feed the hungry and hopeless. Foster’s wish became known and motivated lots of people to donate food to the poor. Then Foster wanted to save the bees. At his funeral packets of wildflower seeds were distributed for people to scatter. The wild flowers, when grown, would provide bees with nectar.

Kid can do it all on one leg

Adam Bender slips a chest protector over his Astros jersey, buckles a shinguard to his right leg, positions a mask atop his head, grabs his catcher’s mitt and hops out of the dugout.

Adam has his game face on. Or at least what passes as a game face for an 8-year-old. His eyes are serious. His freckled nose is crinkled with determination.

It is a cool, breezy Saturday morning at Veterans Park, which is already buzzing with activity. Baseball games are being played on three diamonds within a pop-up of each other. Parents are clustered in and around the stands, chatting and cheering. Players of all ages, wearing uniforms or team T-shirts, swarm the place.

Hardly anybody gives a second glance to the catcher in the Southeastern rookie league deftly playing on one leg.

Adam Bender is just another kid playing ball, which is exactly how his parents, Michelle and Chris, want it.

“I was a little hesitant when we first brought him up here for baseball,” Michelle said. “I thought his spirit might be crushed if he got out every time. Then I thought, who am I to micromanage his feelings? He’s going to have to learn how to deal with this stuff.

“The more I shelter him, the more he’ll think, ‘I’m fragile.’ I don’t think I’ll ever tell him he can’t do something.”

Adam is amazing to watch. He takes his position behind the plate, resting on his right knee.

When a runner rounds third looking to score, Adam jumps up and holds his ground.

He suffered a mild concussion on one collision and missed a practice or two. But he recovered and was ready for action in the next game. At one point this season he led the rookie league in put-outs at home.

At bat, his athletic skill and balance allow him to take a full swing, and he usually makes contact. He hops to first base as quickly as he can. If he’s safe, he uses crutches to run the bases. When he gets thrown out, he hops dejectedly back to the dugout.

He’s a competitor, and not just in baseball.

Adam, who lost his left leg to cancer when he was 1, has played soccer for a couple of years. He uses crutches, and is a whirlwind on the field in Centenary United Methodist’s “I Am Third” league.

Full Story from Mike Fields at the Lexington Herald-Leader

Adam’s story will be featured on ESPN in the coming months.

In July, he threw out the first pitch at a Cincinnati Reds game, and he caught the first pitch at Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros games.

He also went to Las Vegas as a special guest at a party at Caesars Palace put on by Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation.

In January, Adam will return to Chicago to receive the Bo Jackson Courage Award at the Pitch & Hit Club’s 63rd annual awards dinner.

Dean can’t stop running

Let’s say you’ve run 300 miles non-stop, you’ve run 1310 miles in 50 days (make that 50 marathons, in 50 different states), and logged over 5000 race miles in a single year.  What do you do next?  How about becoming the first human to run across all five major deserts in the world in a single calendar year.  Does that sound crazy?  It sounds like Dean Karnazes.

In between desert runs - he just ran across the Sahara Desert and leaves for the last desert run in Antarctica in two weeks - Dean is out and about promoting his new book 50/50: Secrets I learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days along with his continued commitment to improving youth health through his Karno Kids organization.

At the end of the day Dean is all about Inspiration.  He is inspired to test the limits of human endurance, inspired to live a life of activity, inspired to help improve the health of kids,  as well as to inspire everyone to achieve goals greater than they thought possible.  “It’s a two-way street.  I also draw inspiration from the many people I meet along the way,” says Karnazes.

Dean described his goal of running 50 marathons in 50 days, in 50 states as his ultimate family vacation.  The original inspiration was a family traveling by camper, seeing the country, and testing his ability to chain together daily endurance runs.  “I remember hearing about a George Thorogood tour where they played 50 concerts in 50 days in 50 states and thought, ‘wouldn’t that be fun to do with running.’”

But when The North Face jumped in to sponsor the effort along with hiring a world class logistics company the idea was hatched to make this a much larger event where people could join Dean for runs.  The formalized logistics team and sponsors worked with race directors in every state to make sure they were covering official marathon courses with official start and stop times.  The marathon tour also took advantage of premier events that are held on weekends such as the marathons in Boston, San Francisco, and New York.

“I really enjoyed running with people every day.  I am normally an introvert and enjoy the solitude of running but I found during the course of the 50 marathon journey that I really looked forward to meeting with a new group of people the next day.” said Karnazes.  “I ran with one woman who was 53 years old and was completing her 50th marathon on the day she ran with me.  By the way, she never ran a marathon before she turned 50 and she had survived a battle with breast cancer.  Talk about inspirational.”

How does one train to get ready to tackle 50 consecutive marathons?  “I worked with Chris Carmichael who trained Lance Armstrong for the Tour de France races and ran eight 100 mile or greater races leading up to the 50:50 effort.   The thinking was that if I could run and recover from races over 100 miles then 26.2 miles wouldn’t feel so bad every day.”

In response to why he did it and why he wrote the book Dean had a pretty simple response.  “One, for the challenge.  But also to get peoples attention that you can do great things.  My hope for the book is really that when the reader turns the last page of the book that they are inspired to go out and do something.”

When asked about his favorite local run - Dean lives in Marin County - he lit up in describing the course.  “I like to tuck the kids in bed on Friday night and then head out north of San Francisco, through Nicasio and Napa Valley to Calistoga.  It is a 75 mile route and when the kids wake up in the morning the family drives up to Calistoga and meets me for breakfast.”

That is a story that might make you feel a little guilty for sleeping in on Saturdays.  Run, Dean.  Run.

Former NBA star Love delivers inspirational message

Perhaps it was his last name or his gentle demeanor, or maybe it was that he has met President-elect Barack Obama and Michael Jordan on numerous occasions, but when former NBA All-Star Bob Love finished his motivational speech to ninth graders Wednesday at Naples High, an auditorium filled with teenagers rushed forward to hug him.

The kids Love was addressing — about staying in school and choosing friends wisely — are growing up in a different reality than the former Chicago Bulls great, who was born in the Jim Crow South (Baston, La.) in 1942.

Two girls — one white, one black, one with dreadlocks, one with red ribbons in her hair — sat side by side, holding hands as Love told his story. Both had “OBAMA” written on their arms in marker.

“God bless America,” Love said again and again.

———————-

Because of his stutter, Love found life after basketball difficult. At one point, unable to find gainful employment because of his stutter, Love took a job as a busboy and dishwasher making $4.45 an hour.

“Those were some of the most embarrassing, most humiliating days of my life,” Love said. “It took me about a year and a half of speech therapy before I could speak a whole sentence. Still, every morning I get up and look in the mirror and practice what I learned. I never want to go back to where I came from.

“All those honors I received when I was playing, I would give back in a minute to be able to give these kids some words of inspiration.”

Love, who does nearly 200 speaking engagements a year, played against some of the game’s true legends.

Read Full Story - Love Inspires

Inspirational Golfers Draw Attention to Tournament’s Mission

Some of the world’s top golfers are in Florida this week for the Professional Golfers’ Association of America Tour’s last official money tournament of the year. Sponsored by the Children’s Miracle Network, the event also raises money for the network’s mission - funding 170 children’s hospitals around the United States and saving and improving the lives of children. Dave Maier profiles two golfers who personify that mission.

At first glance, playing several days of grueling, high-level competitive golf may seem like an unusual method of rehabilitation for the recipient of a heart transplant. But for 28-year-old Erik Compton, it’s becoming a habit… or at least a trademark. This week, Compton is among 128 golfers teeing up at the PGA Tour’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic outside Orlando, Florida.

It’s not often that a golfer’s life experience so closely reflects the mission of a tournament sponsor. But in this case, Compton knows what sick kids can accomplish when they receive the right care at the right time.

“Obviously, it’s a very fitting event,” he observes, “considering everything that I’ve been through, I kind of know what kids are going through because I’ve been there.”

Where Compton had been was on an operating table, where he received not one but two life-saving heart transplants. The first came in 1992 at age 12, after he was diagnosed with heart disease. Then - following a major heart attack 14 months ago - Compton received his second transplant in May and was out playing competitive golf again by October.

In between the transplants, Compton was a national junior golf champion and a two-time all-American at the University of Georgia. Although he played a number of other sports, Compton says golf seemed the most natural fit for his competitive nature.

“Golf was an individual sport,” he explains, adding that a lot of the kids his age were stronger than he was. “And being able to shoot low scores with the health condition I had, it was a way for me to prove that I was stronger than some of the other kids.”

Also on hand this week is 16-year-old blind golfer Matt Cooper, who has lived with nearly total vision loss since he had most of a brain tumor surgically removed at age 3.

Read Full Story - Inspiration Golfers on VOA News

Amputee’s successful and motivating return to parachuting

Meet double amputee Dana Bowman who continues to skydive and then gives a motivational speech.  His story is pretty remarkable as just five months after having both of his legs amputated, Dana Bowman was back to doing what he loved — jumping out of airplanes.

In early 1994, Bowman, who was 31 at the time, was a member of the U.S. Army’s elite parachute team, the Golden Knights. During an annual training in Yuma, Ariz., Bowman and his teammate, Sgt. Jose Aguillon, collided in air at a combined speed of 300 mph.

The impact killed Aguillon and severed both of Bowman’s legs, one above the knee, one below.

After months of rehabilitation at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Bowman asked his doctors for a weekend pass to skydive with his team at a wedding. The doctors laughed at the idea, but gave Bowman the pass, thinking he was joking about skydiving.

The following Monday, though, Bowman showed his doctors the photos and video of his weekend skydive, making sure to point out the prosthetic legs in the pictures, he said in a recent phone interview.

“Their eyes bugged out,” Bowman said of his doctors. “… They were just blown away.”

A few months later, in Nov. 1994, Bowman skydived into his re-enlistment ceremony for the U.S. Army. Bowman retired from the Army as a sergeant first class in 1997, and went back to school to become a pilot. Bowman is now a flight instructor and travels the country to tell his inspirational story of recovery.

And Thursday, Bowman, 46, will jump into Roseburg and share his story with Douglas County residents at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in honor of National Prosthetics Day. And even though Bowman spent more than 15 years in the military, his story speaks to people of all walks of life, he said.

“Everybody’s looking for motivation, inspiration, especially in these trying times,” he said.

Bowman hopes people will look at his story of tragedy and take note of how his attitude about the accident changed his life, he said.

“You just have to go out there and make the best out of life,” he said.

Read entire article Amputee to parachute into Rosberg

Below is the video

Seve Ballesteros vows to fight brain tumor

After a golf career full of miraculous shots — including one from a parking lot during his first British Open victory — Seve Ballesteros was preparing for the “hardest challenge” of his life Sunday after announcing he has a brain tumor.

The 51-year-old Ballesteros, who retired last year, was set to undergo a biopsy Tuesday before doctors determine how to proceed.

It was unknown whether the tumor was benign or malignant.

“Throughout my career I have been among the best at overcoming challenges on the golf course,” the five-time major winner said in a statement released by Madrid’s La Paz hospital.

“Now I want to be the best confronting the hardest challenge of my life, with all my strength, counting on all of you who are sending me encouraging messages.”

Related Posts:

• Seve Ballesteros has brain tumor (Los Angeles Times)
• Seve Ballesteros: a man who transcends his sport (Times Online)
• Career Stats - PGA Tour Online

LiveStrong Winner - meet Zach

Enjoy this video and story of a true everyday hero.   Zach is the winner of the recent Lance Armstrong livestrong contest “Dare to”.

While battling cancer Zach ran six road races, completed eight triathlons, one duathlon, and one century bike ride.

More information about Zach and the new livestrong.com site can be found at http://www.livestrong.com

Woman completes road race after lung transplant

Achievement in athletics is relative. Consider Castro Valley’s Heidi Tegner, who may have turned in one of the most incredible 384th-place finishes in road-racing history.

Um, 384th place? Right. With her sister Amber and a half-dozen friends running with her, that’s where Tegner, 24, finished in the recent 5K Eden Medical Center Run to the Lake. She had to fight back tears of joy when she completed her quest.

At what position she finished hardly mattered, though she did wind up outpacing 126 runners. That she ran the race at all was enough.

One day short of a year earlier, Tegner underwent 10 hours of surgery at Stanford Hospital, receiving a double lung transplant after her battle with cystic fibrosis had reached an acute stage. She had 23 percent breathing capacity in her lungs at the time and required round-the-clock oxygen support.

“I had a tank I would have to take with me wherever I went,” she said. “I had trouble climbing the stairs. I’d have to stop halfway and catch my breath before I could climb the rest.”

Tegner never thought she would run again, let alone participate in a 5K. But after her remarkable recovery from surgery — her lung capacity is at 100 percent — she’s able to set real-life goals, and one of them was to honor her anonymous teenage donor by running in the event.

“Originally, just my sister and a bunch of her friends were going to run in honor of my donor,” she said. “They actually trained for it. But three days before, I just decided to do it, too.”Earlier in the year, Tegner had started preparatory training for the biennial Transplant Games in Pittsburgh, Pa., and though she missed that event because of a physical setback and other commitments, she felt she was in shape to make the 5K attempt.

The day of the race, she admitted to a slight case of panic.

“I was thinking, ‘How am I ever going to complete this? There’s no way,’” she said.

Ten years ago, it probably would have been unthinkable. The first successful double lung transplant wasn’t performed until 1986. Even now, it’s a rare, risky surgery with many postoperative concerns. According to the American Lung Association, only about 1,000 are performed every year, and about 15 percent involve cystic fibrosis patients.

Read the full story at InsideBayArea.com

Carl Seward has been writing a regular article of every day heroes for his regional paper in Northern California.  He suggested that this was a good story for Champoli to share.   You can find all of Carl’s articles in his online archive.

Olympic athletes that beat the odds

If you live in the United States and plan to watch the 2008 Summer Olympics you will certainly hear inspiring, and deservedly heart warming stories of althletes that succeeded in spite of significant challenges.  In the sport of swimming alone you’ve likely already heard about Dara Torres and Eric Shanteau.  Torres, coming out of retirement at the age of 41 is setting records and Shanteau is battling testicular cancer but plans to postpone treatment until after the games.

Looking outside the US one can also find tremendous stories of athletes achieving their dreams while overcoming tremendous obstacles.

The BBC has a series online titled “Against the Odds” which profiles such inspiring athletes.   Follow these links to see the following stories:

Nery Brenes
Costa Rican sprinter who left behind a town hit by gang violence to get to Beijing

Bernadett Baczko
Neither family tragedy nor serious injury deterred this Hungarian judoka

Hem Bunting
A crumbling Cambodian athletics stadium is home to marathon runner Hem

Ziad Richa
Meet the Lebanese clay pigeon shooter training in the hills around Beirut

Vijender Kumar
An unsung boxing champion fights for recognition in cricket-mad India

Samiya Yuusf Omar
A 16-year-old’s amazing journey from war-ravaged Somalia to the Olympic Games

The BBC should be lauded for creating such a compelling series.

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