Jamie Staton's Mile 18 Virtual Running Partner  

Written by: Bill Jones

I have been involved with Special Olympics for about about twenty-five years, as a volunteer, board member and fundraiser.  But what I want to tell you about today is when my daughter Megan first became a Special Olympics athlete - about ten years ago. This is when I realized the value of this organization at a personal level that I had never experienced before. I thought I knew all I needed to know about SO. I knew their mission statement, how they operated, and so on - but when my daughter started to train, compete, and socialize with the other athletes; you could see the change it began to make in her life.

My daughter Megan has Fragile X syndrome, and one of the characteristics of Fragile X is shyness.  In the case of my daughter, it was a debilitating shyness that affected her socially and made it impossible for her to be singled out in any way. I remember a relay race at one of Megan's first area track & field events when all the relay runners were in position on the track, and everyone was cheering for Megan. All of a sudden the officials stopped the race and had all the runners come off the track. When it was time to go back onto the track, Megan came to me, put her head into my chest and was crying so hard that she was shaking.She simply could not go back into her position on the track because everyone was now looking at her. We tried to assure her everything was OK - but in the end a substitute runner had to run that leg of the race for her.

That's where we were several years ago. Through her continued involvement over the years on the Bedford Bobcats local program, Megan has evolved into an athlete who is now comfortable with these situations. Through Special Olympics she has achieved so much.  She has dozens of medals and ribbons to illustrate these achievements.  Special Olympics has made such a difference in her life.