Michaels Paralympic Rowing Goal
Donation protected
At the age of 34 Mike decided to take on the newest and possibly largest challenge of his life; which is saying a lot since he lost his leg at the young age of 11.
Mike was born with an under developed foot. He spent much of his childhood in and out of the Shriners
Hospital in Minneapolis where he learned, in the best-case scenario, he would spend the rest of his life
in a leg brace. Eventually the doctors informed him and his parents that they may need to amputate the
leg. At the ripe age of 11 he decided it was time to move on and say goodbye to the countless trips to
the hospital, open wounds on his foot, and the constantly breaking leg braces.
He made the decision at age 11 to tackle the rest of his life with an amputated leg. At that time, he may not have fully understood the challenges he was going to face throughout his life, but he wanted to be a normal kid more than anything, so he decided the risk was worth the reward and told the doctor to do what needed to be done.
Mike has overcome so many challenges in his life. He has never let his leg hold him back from anything he wanted to do. He is an avid scuba diver, a Prosthetist at the VA hospital (because he couldn’t join the military), a Grad student, a coach, motivator/mentor, and a Paralympic Athlete.
In the summer of 2016 Mike decided he was ready for the next challenge. He was going to try out for the US Rowing National Team. To the surprise of many, he started rowing and within 1 YEAR, he was selected to be on the US National Team and compete in the World Rowing Championships. Mike was basically a rowing savant. But his height, strength, and willingness to learn are what ultimately helped him make the team.
Training for the Paralympics is very similar to training for the “regular” Olympics in the sense that it takes a significant time and financial commitment to train as an elite athlete. Mike will need help reaching a very specific goal this summer, he will need to raise money in order to attend selection camp in July, as well as trips back and forth to Boston leading up to the World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria, in the fall where he will have to take unpaid time off from work.
$5K in funding would cover the following
Unpaid time off work
Travel (flights, cars, hotels) to and from Boston through September
Food (Athletes eat a ton of food!)
Training equipment/parts for his prosthesis
In the 2017 World Rowing Championship, Mike and his team took Silver! By helping him with funding, it
will allow him the time he needs with his team to train hard and take home a Gold Medal in 2018!
Though the challenge of making the Paralympic Team is huge, the financial challenge can be just as hard.
Please consider donating to Mike’s campaign. Any support you can provide would be greatly
appreciated!
Fallow Mike on Facebook!
Mike was born with an under developed foot. He spent much of his childhood in and out of the Shriners
Hospital in Minneapolis where he learned, in the best-case scenario, he would spend the rest of his life
in a leg brace. Eventually the doctors informed him and his parents that they may need to amputate the
leg. At the ripe age of 11 he decided it was time to move on and say goodbye to the countless trips to
the hospital, open wounds on his foot, and the constantly breaking leg braces.
He made the decision at age 11 to tackle the rest of his life with an amputated leg. At that time, he may not have fully understood the challenges he was going to face throughout his life, but he wanted to be a normal kid more than anything, so he decided the risk was worth the reward and told the doctor to do what needed to be done.
Mike has overcome so many challenges in his life. He has never let his leg hold him back from anything he wanted to do. He is an avid scuba diver, a Prosthetist at the VA hospital (because he couldn’t join the military), a Grad student, a coach, motivator/mentor, and a Paralympic Athlete.
In the summer of 2016 Mike decided he was ready for the next challenge. He was going to try out for the US Rowing National Team. To the surprise of many, he started rowing and within 1 YEAR, he was selected to be on the US National Team and compete in the World Rowing Championships. Mike was basically a rowing savant. But his height, strength, and willingness to learn are what ultimately helped him make the team.
Training for the Paralympics is very similar to training for the “regular” Olympics in the sense that it takes a significant time and financial commitment to train as an elite athlete. Mike will need help reaching a very specific goal this summer, he will need to raise money in order to attend selection camp in July, as well as trips back and forth to Boston leading up to the World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria, in the fall where he will have to take unpaid time off from work.
$5K in funding would cover the following
Unpaid time off work
Travel (flights, cars, hotels) to and from Boston through September
Food (Athletes eat a ton of food!)
Training equipment/parts for his prosthesis
In the 2017 World Rowing Championship, Mike and his team took Silver! By helping him with funding, it
will allow him the time he needs with his team to train hard and take home a Gold Medal in 2018!
Though the challenge of making the Paralympic Team is huge, the financial challenge can be just as hard.
Please consider donating to Mike’s campaign. Any support you can provide would be greatly
appreciated!
Fallow Mike on Facebook!
Organizer
Lori Ann Varro
Organizer
Orlando, FL
