Elementary Schooler With Cerebral Palsy Runs 400-meter Race

Elementary Schooler With Cerebral Palsy Runs 400-meter Race

A young man named Matt (last name unknown) inspired a lot of people because of his courage and determination to finish a 400-meter race despite his condition.  He attends Worthington (Ohio) Colonial Hills Elementary School.  Like most elementary schools in America, Colonial Hills has a track and field day once a year, and like most kids, Matt was clearly excited to take part of the activity.

However, Matt suffers from spastic cerebral palsy, a weakening condition that limits his ability to undergo rigorous physical exercise of any kind. Incredibly, despite knowing these limitations, Matt decided to run the 400-meter event on the school’s 200-meter track.

The result was absolutely inspiring. Even though all the other students in the event finished far in front of Matt, the student athlete simply refused to stop running, chugging his way around the track on his own, even as it appeared he might collapse.

Naturally, the inspirational Colonial Hills student needed a lot of encouragement, and he first got that from the school's gym teacher, John Blaine, who trotted and walked alongside his pupil and then ran alongside the kid for the remainder of the race.

Then, after all the other fifth- and sixth-graders in the race had finished, they joined in, running and following Matt around the track and chanting, “Let’s go, Matt.  Let’s go!” until he finished, spun around, hugged his gym teacher and then accepted a series of high fives from fellow students, all the while his mother watched on, sobbing with emotion from the kindness shown to her son.

This inspiring event shows the power of positive thinking and what children can do with a little encouragement. No matter what Matt's athletic future holds, he, his family and his schoolmates will always have this inspiring and joyous 400-meter jaunt during an elementary school field day to look back in the later years.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Monday June 04 2012, 4:36 AM EDT. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0