On Friday afternoon I will walk 200m up Spadina Avenue. It should take less than 5 minutes but it will be 5 minutes that I hope will go on to mean so much more. Earlier this year I applied to be one of the torch bearers for the 2015 Parapan Am Games and on Friday afternoon, I will take my place and hold that torch proudly.
While Lily is still too young to run herself, she is absolutely the embodiment of everything you would want in a Parapan Am torch bearer. She has faced obstacles that could have caused grown men and women to crumble and yet none of this has phased her at all; I have never met a person, adult or child, who is more determined to keep moving ahead, who pushes herself on a daily basis to be better, stronger and faster. At 4 yeas old, I see the heart of an athlete even if she’s not yet there physically.
I am just one incredibly proud mother of a child with special needs who sees the Parapan Am Games as a light, an incredible moment where the City of Toronto, and all of America will focus on the incredible strength, determination and focus that our children possess. The games symbolize that our children can, and will, do anything that they put their minds to – just like every other child anywhere in the world.
I will walk those 200m, not as an athlete myself, but as a mother, who has so much hope that one day, Lily and all kids like her, will be able to run that distance themselves. On Friday, I’m not just holding the torch for myself, but for the thousands of mothers and fathers who share that hope with me.
