American Athlete Tatyana McFadden was voted America's ‘Athlete of the month’ for the month of October after she won the seventh consecutive Chicago Marathon. According to New York Times, this multiple-Paralympic and world champion won by receiving 45% of the public votes.
Ever since childhood, she was taught by her mother to make the best of all that she has and not let anything be a constraint in life. She and her sister raced in their wheelchairs as children and were taught to live life just as all the others did. The reason she has become a successful athlete is that she was taught to believe that no physical disability is a constraint in life and one can choose to do anything and everything that one wants to do. This is why she and her sister have developed the willpower to become such accomplished athletes.
Tatyana belongs to a unique household; she was adopted from a Russian orphanage and her sister was also adopted. Both have physical disabilities, and yet the kind of upbringing they have has made it possible for them to make it as big as other athletes. The fact that doctors told Tatyanas at Johns Hopkins that she would not live for long, did not make her weak and she did not give up. No matter what, she always remained strong and determined to make it big in life.
Unfortunately, she did not receive any treatment in the Russian orphanage and was paralyzed from her waist. She made all her movements on her hands because of her inability to walk. It was after she was adopted by her two mothers when she was exposed to sports for the first time. Her condition was getting worse, and she was showing no sign of improvement. As an effort to improve her strength she was enrolled in various sports groups and this proved to be the beginning of her glorious sports career.
As a child, she tried various sports including wheelchair basketball, swimming, scuba diving and ice hockey but, it was wheelchair racing that she fell in love with.
This inspiring woman won seventeen Paralympics medals at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
One issue that Tatyana has been raising her voice against is the reorganization and the appreciation of Para Olympic athletes in America. In spite of the fact that she is so very accomplished, people in America are not aware of who Tatyana is and are not familiar with her accomplishments. She has been raising her voice for the rights of disabled people and also the promotion of the Paralympics in the America. She is of the opinion that people need to support and promote Paralympics just the way they do it with other games. She believes that if you do not speak up, things will never change for the best.
