Hi!
My name is Leeah, and I want to tell you about my friend. Katie is different
from everyone else I know; she's physically disabled and her left
arm is very short. Her arm ends about where my elbow is on my arm.
This friend of mine has two special qualities.
She can swim like a fish, and she knows what's important about life.
I have been swimming at the Warringah Piranahs Swim Club in Sydney, Australia
for a little over five years and for that whole time I have watched Katie
become a dedicated and focussed young women. An incredible young
woman who has taught me so much!
Recently I watched with tears in my eyes
as Katie proudly showed a bunch of us a certificate that said she
had broken a world record. Can you believe that? She just had so much faith
in herself.
Katie also participates in a lot of other
highly competitive sports including surf life saving, representing her
club in state and national competitions. She's an ambassador for her swim
club as well, showing disabled and younger swimmers how they too can reach
for the stars, just like she's doing.
Katie is only 15. It is to her I give great
thanks for making me more aware that people with diseases and problems
aren't different from the rest of us in the really important ways. I'm
13, and I have learned about life through her. I understand all of the
trauma that she's had to endure, yet she tackled her goals anyway.
I hope that you'll get to meet a person as
neat as Katie, and that you'll discover, like I did, what makes a person
truly beautiful!