Blind Triathlete Conquors Ironman - INSPIRING STORY!!
inspiration, (dis)ability, will
|
This goes to show that there are no obstacles that cannot be overcome if the will is strong enough!
Story by:
Sally Showman / KXLY4 Reporter
COEUR D'ALENE -- A blind man who bounced back from near death is giving new meaning to an old cliché ‘Where there's a will there's a way" after he finished the Ironman early Monday morning.
To full understand his accomplishment you have to go back 12 years to where Dave Bigoney's Ironman success story began on the fateful evening he lost his sight.
"Unfortunately in the morning hours of December 27th, my step mother who still lived in the house came into my bedroom and shot me in the head with a .38 caliber revolver then proceeded to shoot and kill my father when he was also in bed," he said.
Doctors didn't think Dave would survive the shooting but he did, though he lost his sight. Fast forward now to Monday morning when he crossed the Ironman finish line at 12:58.
And this was his second Ironman he has finished.
"I've always been one to challenge myself, sighted or not sighted," Dave said.
Instead of dwelling on what he's lost, Bigoney focuses on what he can still do.
"You have to change your game plan to suit whatever situation comes up," he said.
With slight modifications to the Ironman race, Dave found a way to travel the distance. From the first stroke of the swim to the last stride of the marathon, Chris Laskey was beside Dave as his sight guide, there to direct Dave around every curve along the 140.6 mile journey.
"I have to stay behind my guide with my tether which acts as a straight line from me to him," Dave said.
In the water a bungee cord connected the two while for the bike they rode on a tandem bike. The bungee cord came back out again for the marathon.
"Most people that come out have to come out and do an Ironman on their own, whereas we get to do it as a team, which makes the experience even more worthwhile," Chris said.
Dave's story has inspired many people including the man he spent nearly 18 hours with on Sunday.
"Ninety nine percent of the world don't do an Ironman, and being able to overcome certain challenges that life throws at you and say I need a stronger challenge is sort of an amazing feat," Dave said.
"For me to know I'm changing people's lives by being who I am is pretty moving for me, it touches me," he said.
|
|
|
on 6/24/2008
|
|
|