Amy's Road to the Paris Paralympic Games

My name is Amy Dixon and I'm a blind Paralympian who competed for Team USA a the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. I lost my sight to a rare form of juvenile Rheumatic arthritis at the age of 32. I've since undergone 40 eye surgeries and weekly chemotherapy since 2020 when my disease came out of remission.

Since then, I've had two pulmonary emboli and survived severe depression and eating disorder when my body changed shape due to the meds I must take to suppress my immune system. When my body couldn't hold up to running at fast paces without injury anymore, I rekindled my love of Tandem cycling and have since become a 4-time national champion on the road and on the cycling track (velodrome) and represented Team USA last week in Rio finishing 8th at the UCI World Championships.

Due to my immune system being suppressed, I contracted covid and pneumonia while racing in Brazil and had to sit out of the Texas race that would have qualified myself and my tandem pilot to compete and be fully funded by Team USA at the Paralympic selection races in Belgium and Italy in three weeks. Because I was unable to race, I am now faced with funding this trip myself, which I am grossly financially unprepared for, as this season I have zero financial support from sponsors or Team USA.

This trip must cover flights for my pilot and myself to World Cup Belgium, Paris for training camp, and Italy World Cup, along with bike transit, ground transit, rental van to transport the tandem, meals, and Airbnb or hotels for three weeks in May followed by two domestic races in Wisconsin and Northern California.

These races are the selection races to determine who will be one of the six females to compete for team USA. If I don't race in Europe next week, I will not be able to race at the Games this summer.

I am VERY willing to speak at your school, company, fundraiser, or any event in exchange for donations. I am a professional speaker who covers my racing in this way by typically speaking in the pharma, disability advocacy, med tech, eye disease and healthcare industries in my off season from October to February. My fees are usually as follows: $2500 virtual, $5000 in person local, $10000 in person if travel is required.

This would not be a charity, but it is a write- off for your company as training (I'm a Dale Carnegie trained speaker and coach) or marketing and as an expense.

I know my timeline is tight. This was a MAJOR setback that I hadn't planned for and had a big sponsorship that ended up not coming to fruition after months of positive negotiations. The nature of sadly, MANY failed Olympic and Paralympic careers. Please help if you can. I am completely out of resources with nowhere else to turn.

Love and Gratitude,

Amy Dixon PLY and Guide Dog Bombay