You Gotta Be Here

Thirteen-year-old Mike Windsor with his new friends, Brad Bowden (L) and Paul Rosen of Team Canada's sledge hockey team.

Mother Brenda and son Michael Windsor of Sarnia, Ontario are very excited and proud to be torchbearers in the 2010 Paralympic Torch Relay. They are both in the 24-hour relay that started Thursday and finishes Friday in Robson Square in downtown Vancouver.

As Mike's mother writes below: "(C)arrying the flame to the Paralympics was symbolic of his journey of someday being an athlete who competes."

Here's a bit more of their story, in Brenda's own words:

Being blessed with a disabled child makes the entire world look a little different — you learn many lessons that may have otherwise passed you by.

My son, like many other boys, developed his love of hockey at a very young age.  After years of playing stand-up hockey, it was obvious he could no longer keep up with his peers.  At the tender age of eight he joined the Sarnia Ice Hawks sledge hockey team and has never looked back.

A year or so later, while watching some of his teammates at the Ontario games, he was introduced to Paul Rosen from the Canadian National sledge hockey team. Paul was quick to introduce him to Brad Bowden who wore the same number #27 jersey.  They spent a fair amount of time talking and Paul had encouraged Mike to come to Vancouver to watch them in the 2010 Olympics.  

At this moment my son made two decisions:

1) make sure we attended the 2010 Olympics.

2) try his hardest to become a National Team hopeful.

The Olympic Flame came to Mike's hometown of Sarnia on Christmas Eve, 2009.
Here's Candice Worsfold carrying the flame for her Torchbearer Group in Sarnia that day.

When the Olympic torch went through our home town of Sarnia on Dec 24, a group of athletes from our organization were able to carry it.  Unfortunately, Mike did not turn 13 until January 3.  That did not stop his drive and spirit – he stood for hours waiting to see his teammates with the flame.  The very next day while searching for the sledge hockey schedule for the Paralympics, he found the application to become a torchbearer. 

He worked hard at writing his reasons for wanting to participate. He felt that carrying the flame to the Paralympics was symbolic of his journey of someday being an athlete who competes. It has been and will be a long journey, but the light at the end is truly worth the effort.

You can only imagine his excitement when he was informed that he had been selected!  He was totally speechless and I believe the true acceptance has not sunken in yet.  He has read and re-read the emails in attempts to believe it is really true.  He can hardly wait until it is ‘Official’ and can tell his teammates.  That will make it real for him.

Receiving the call that I was also chosen to participate as torchbearer was totally unbelievable. While supporting my son with his dreams, I have taken on the role or trainer-manager for our sledge hockey team and have the honour of working with these budding athletes every week.  

Being able to participate and represent the many athletes who could not attend is a true honour. I hope that there would be some way that I could either receive or hand off the flame to my son, representing the journey we both have shared to get him there – this would be a mother’s dream come true!

I thank you for the opportunity to participate in this event.  It has been the focal point of my son’s life for many years and will leave all of us with memories that will last a lifetime.