Benn Moving On at a Different Pace

Some people pity Melanie Benn as she sits in her wheelchair. Sometimes they stare, perhaps thinking of all the things she can’t do because her arms have been amputated below the elbows and both legs at the knees.

“I can understand why most people think that living without arms or legs is impossible,” she said. “Before all of this happened, I would have thought the same thing.”

Before “all of this happened,” however, she also would never have thought about sharing a pool with world-class swimmers. But the San Diego athlete will be one of 19 woman swimmers representing the United States in the Paralympic Summer Games held in Sydney, Australia, today through Oct. 29.

More than four years have passed since Benn, 23, contracted a rare form of meningitis that invaded her bloodstream and eventually led to the amputations. Afterward, she underwent dozens of skin grafts, a kidney transplant, numerous physical therapy sessions and 22 major reconstructive surgeries.

“Here I was, a freshman in college, thinking I had my whole future ahead of me and then after it happened, I couldn’t even feed myself,” she said.

Family and friends helped her get through her initial depression but the surgeries were just the beginning. Benn had to adjust to her new body but was too weak to move. After her kidney transplant, however, her strength improved and she wanted to do something that would make her strong enough to walk on prosthethics.

She had competed in diving, basketball and softball at Mt. Carmel High in San Diego and turned to swimming two years after her surgery to gain physical strength after watching other disabled athletes swim in the San Diego Triathlon Challenge. Alan Voisard, who has worked with disabled swimmers, invited her to train with him.

“Even though she had been used to the water because of her diving background, she was still a little timid about how she would use her body,” Voisard said. “But she picked it right up.”

Benn accomplished her initial goal--she is able to walk for short periods on prosthethics and uses them to drive--but after training for a year she accomplished another goal, competing in the Roughwater Challenge, a 1.2-mile open-water swim at La Jolla Cove.

Then last April, Joe McCarthy who trained with Benn, and will also compete in the Paralympics, persuaded her to try pool competition. Reluctantly, she did but she was fast immediately and her times were good enough for her to go to the Paralympic trials in Indianapolis in June. She qualified for the U.S team and will swim in three events at Sydney, the 50-meter freestyle, the 100 freestyle and the 50 backstroke.

“I’m so excited,” she said. “Going to the Olympics was not a goal of mine, it just happened. But it’ll be one of the greatest moments of my life. [I’ve trained] really hard to get a medal.”

Benn worked even harder for her independence. She lives with a roommate, cooks, and drives a van donated by San Diego Padre outfielder Tony Gwynn. She graduated last June from San Diego State and, after the Paralympics, is headed to UCLA to work on a master’s degree in social work.

Benn admits that in moments of sadness she cries, but then moves on because she has “other goals to accomplish.”

“I’m very fortunate to be alive,’ she said. “I want to be able to help [people] in any way I can.”

Her goals are to prevent others from going through what she went through and to help other disabled people.

Her form of airborne meningitis can be fatal if not treated quickly. It also can be prevented by a simple vaccination, however, which is her message when she speaks to high-risk groups, such as college students who live in dorms.

Just don’t stare and feel sorry for her, Benn said.

“Sometimes people think, ‘Oh, she doesn’t have arms or legs so it’s OK if she wants to sit in her wheelchair and watch TV all day.’ But I don’t want to do that with my life. Some people take life for granted, but when something like this happens, you realize how special life is and you have to live every moment the best way you can.”

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They’re Game

The Paralympic Games are held every four years in the city of the Summer Olympics for competitors in six disability groups:

* Who: More than 4,000 athletes from 128 countries competing in 18 sports. The competitors include athletes with physical or visual impairments, paraplegics, tetraplegic amputees (loss of three limbs), blind and cerebral palsied individuals and those with an intellectual disability.

* Where: Sydney, Australia.

* When: Today through Oct. 29.

* Details: www.media.com.