This week, the 20-year-old became the youngest person ever to win the men’s wheelchair race.
By Theresa Vargas Theresa Vargas Local columnist who previously wrote for the local enterprise team about poverty, race and people with disabilities. Email Bio Follow Columnist April 17 at 3:23 PM Gwena and Gerry Herman were driving along Interstate 95 when they learned of the win.
That is the motto of the Bennett Blazers, the adaptive sports program at the Kennedy Krieger Institute that Gwena and Gerry Herman started in 1989. The program, which is a chapter of Disabled Sports USA, has helped hundreds of children with physical disabilities participate, and many times excel, in sports they might not have been able to try otherwise.
“That sports program played a huge role in his development and his outlook on his abilities,” she said.It allowed him to try different sports and see athletes who came before him form independent lives, she said. He saw them go to college, get jobs, start families — and sometimes compete on professional levels.
Kim Romanchuk, who was at the finish line when her son crossed it, said more than anything, what she wants people to see in her son’s victory is “hope in difficult circumstances.” Shock was followed by an “adjustment period,” Romanchuk said, and then an acceptance of “it was just going to be a different kind of journey.”
One major way her son benefited from the sports program, she said, is being able to try his skills in different areas before settling on racing. The equipment for different athletic activities can come at a high cost for children with disabilities, she said. Specialized wheelchairs are often needed and investing in one is not realistic for children who are still growing and families who are already facing many medical costs.
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