Laura Schwanger had thought she retired from competitive athletics after winning multiple medals in three Paralympic Games ending with Atlanta in 1996.

Laura Schwanger, paralympic medalist, coaches a young participant at the recent United Spinal Kids Sports Spectacular.

In March 2006, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to quit her full-time job to undergo radiation and chemotherapy treatments that she described as severe and devastating. “It left me with no strength, no endurance, no nothing,” she says.

After completing her treatments that October, Schwanger was looking for a way to build up her strength and stamina. She decided to give indoor rowing on an ergometer (indoor rowing machine) a shot.

Even before her diagnosis, Karen Lewis of the Philadelphia Rowing Program for the Disabled (PRPD), the oldest adaptive rowing program in the country, had been trying to get Laura interested in the sport.

A little over a year after she first got into a scull to row for a place on the U.S. National Team, she earned a prime spot on the U.S. Paralympic Rowing Team during the U.S. National Rowing Championships held just 2 months ago at Lake Mercer County Park outside of Princeton, New Jersey.

“I liked what rowing did to my body,” Schwanger says. “I feel like I’m in the best physical shape I’ve ever been in.”

Laura is currently a board member of United Spinal Association, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Americans with spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, spina bifida, post polio, and ALS.

The Paralympics will run from September 6th through 17th. About 4,000 athletes from 145 countries are expected to participate.

ABOUT UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION
United Spinal is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Americans with spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, spina bifida, ALS and post polio and has played a significant role in writing the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as making important contributions to the Fair Housing Amendments Act and the Air Carrier Access Act. Go to www.UnitedSpinal.org for more information.