Brave Hearts

SR No.: 006999
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Eye Care Foundation
Publication Year: 2009
Total Pages: 162
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 6 MB

Page 122

The Polio-stricken Swimmer
reality her happiness was combined with a feeling of deep anguish at that moment of time. At this hour of glory she could not forget the sad memories of her childhood. The same Shelley who could not move even a muscle in her childhood, had today become the world champion in the butterfly aquatic race and had won a gold medal.
When Shelley was just five years of age, she was afflicted with the dreaded disease, polio. The attack was so severe that it had crippled her completely. She could hardly move her limbs. To resurrect her muscles, the doctors thought that swimming was indispensable for her. When she raised her hand for the first time above the water level in a swimming pool, her happiness was endless. The experience of doing that on her own was both happy and shocking. It became a routine matter for her to practice it every day. Thereafter she started making great progress. Initially she crossed a distance of 10 meters in the pool, then she started swimming across the width of the pool, then the whole length of the pool and finally she started increasing the distance to be covered daily. Due to all this, there was new life in the otherwise dead muscles in Shelley's body and a day came when she became America's greatest female swimmer. She established eight new records in aquatic competitions in the United States. Thereafter she set a new Olympic record in 100 meters butterfly race with a timing of 1 minute and 11 seconds. When she was standing on the victory stand to receive the Olympic gold, she was wondering if the happiness she was filled with today, was equivalent to the happiness she had felt on the day she had raised her hand above the water level in the pool when she was just five years old! Incredible achievement indeed!
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