Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Amputee with a cause runs marathons nationwide

From The Dallas Morning News:


An already pumped-up crowd cheered just a little louder when No. 31-A came through the finish line at Dec. 13's White Rock Marathon.

Amputee Amy Palmiero-Winters ran the 26.2-mile race with Ryanne Carr, a 6-year-old double-amputee who completed the course in her wheelchair. "I want her to see that anything's possible," said Palmiero-Winters, a 37-year-old mother from Long Island, N.Y., who runs with a cause. (Both are pictured.)

The former high school track and swimming star lost her leg in a motorcycle accident in 1994. But, using a customized prosthesis, she's become a three-time triathlon world champion and holds 12 world records for amputee athletes.

In October, she was named USA Track & Field's Athlete of the Week after winning the 10th annual Heartland 100-mile endurance run in Kansas. She posted the second fastest time of any runner in the event's history.

"When I lost my leg, I could have given up," Palmiero-Winters said after finishing Sunday's marathon in about 4 ½ hours. "But I love to run and I have an ability to help people through my running."

When she competes in marathons throughout the country, she visits hospitals and schools to meet children who have lost limbs.

On Friday, she met Ryanne at a T-shirt-signing event at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas, where the youngster receives treatment.

Ryanne is one of four children whom Mike and Katrina Carr have adopted from Kazakhstan, in the former Soviet Union. They live in Mineola, about 80 miles southeast of Dallas. Three of the four children have medical needs.

Ryanne's legs and one hand were severed before she was born, when a puncture in the amniotic sac allowed fibers to wrap around her wrist and above her knees, Katrina Carr said.

But the energetic youngster, who has been fitted with prosthetic legs, has won 11 gold medals this year in track and field events. "I feel happy when I'm running," said Ryanne, who now wants to learn to swim.

Ryanne couldn't pass up the opportunity when Palmiero-Winters offered to push her in a wheelchair for the race.

In the last mile, Ryanne got into her racing wheelchair so she could finish the race on her own power.

For Palmiero-Winters, running is a way to convince children like Ryanne that they can achieve their dreams.

"As a kid, I had a dream of being in the Olympics," Palmiero-Winters said. "Now I'm trying to qualify [for the Olympics]. It's all about living life without limitations."