One father, Rick van Beek, completed a triathlon while carrying his 13-year-old daughter, Madison, who has cerebral palsy. Maddy cannot walk or talk, so he carried her across land and through water so that she could complete the event too.
“She functions like a three-month-old, and one of the very few things that we know she enjoys is being outside, being in the water, feeling the breeze in her hair and in her face.” van Beek told the Midland Daily News.
Maddy was diagnosed at the age of two with cerebral palsy, and shortly thereafter, van Beek quit smoking (he was consuming two packs a day) and started working out.
According to van Beek, The Daily Mail reports that “Team Maddy” has participated in more than 70 events, including half-marathons, and triathlons.
