Trip to Ohio and a Break from Swimming.

I spent the past week in Ohio with my girl friend. It was great to take a break from swimming for a whole week. The time flew by and didn’t feel long enough. My girl friend is a great synchronized swimmer and is a student at Ohio State University. This past week was Senior Nationals for them, so I was a temporary Buckeye for the week. I got to see a lot of the National team swimmers that came to the Olympic Training Center (OTC) this past fall. Ohio State won the meet and swam great.

I got the pleasure of meeting the infamous Meghan Kinney. She was the alternate for the 2008 Olympic team. She has been on many National teams for synchronized swimming. This past fall she was at the OTC for 2 days and then had to leave the team because of a tumor in her leg. She was a diagnosed with Osteosarcoma which is a very rare form of bone cancer. They did a whole knee replacement. Future paralympian? Meghan is currently going through chemo and she has a long 5 months ahead of her.

She has one of the most impressive support systems through the synchronized swimming world. She is hands down one of the most positive, happy, all around great human beings I have ever met in my life. She also pulls the baldhead look off very well. Cancer is something that not only test your life and is taxing on your body, but being able to go through something this life changing and having to give up your sport is something that every elite athlete fears. As an elite athlete that trains my life away swimming up and down a pool enough times to swim around the world 4 times a year, I really am thankful that I can say I am healthy. I know that when I was going through the changes of losing my vision it is hard to think of where your life is going, what to do and how to act towards everything. But Meghan is by far positive and words can’t describe the attitude she has towards everything. Seeing the way that she handles everyday with a smile and a glow in her face is a story that will be told for a very long time.

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