VERY NICE STORY JOE! thanks for sharing it with us buddy! cheers! -----Original Message----- From: Joe Copeland Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2012 4:20 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [omnisport:20066] Omni Guys Olympics Special Edition
Let's talk about an olympian from Ireland on Team GB. His name is Keiran Behan and he's a gymnast. He's a small guy, as many gymnasts are, standing at 5'4". He's a talented gymnast, with a string of medals in addition to a spot on the olympic team. But it's the challenges he overcame in getting to that spot that make such a remarkable story. When he was six, he discovered gymnastics and with the enthusiasm of a child, he took to it with an almost single minded purpose. When he was 10, he found a lump on his left leg that turned out to be a benign tumor. A bad decision during the surgery left him with nerve damage and a prognosis of life in a wheel chair. His leg was so painful, simply touching it would reduce him to tears. He was known as "the cripple" at school and bullied by the other boys. He toughed it out and fifteen months later he was not only walking, but back in gymnastics and doing better than before his operation. However, eight months later, during a routine on the horizontal bar, he somehow smacked the back of his head against the metal bar and fell unconscious to the floor. He sustained an injury to the brain and inner ear that left him constantly dizzy and prone to spontaneous black outs. Simply turning his head to look over his shoulder too quickly would cause him to black out. With his mother's help, nearly two years later, he regained his balance, his hand to eye coordination, relearned all the simplest tasks such as walking, eating, writing, and was back to gymnastics. Since then, his life has been a series of injuries sustained in his sport, some which came close to causing him to quit. At one point, he had been in the hospital so many times, the doctors were concerned he was being abused. He kept at it, and earned a spot on the olympic team, despite the doctors and psychiatrists who told him he'd never walk again. Quite a spirit. -- Take a moment and view my blog! http://hohcopelandwj.wordpress.com/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/omnisport?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/omnisport?hl=en.
