Hello. My name is Rowan. When I was nine-months-old I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. I wasn’t able to move the right side of my body very well. The Cerebral Palsy League provided the therapy that helped me to get where I am today.
When I first began swimming lessons I really enjoyed them, but it was hard for me to coordinate my body and breathing. Then I saw something on television that changed my life — the Paralympics. Until then I didn’t know people with disabilities could play sports at an elite level or at any level at all.
I knew from that moment I wanted to be a Paralympic swimmer and that I was going to have to work very hard every day to get there. That was over two years ago and my goal is still a long way off in the distance but I am even more determined now to reach it.
Getting up daily at 4.30 am isn’t hard because I love training. The thing about swimming is that in the water I feel and control my body better, and when I race, CP is just another ripple I swim against. It doesn’t define me.
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