Runners' Stories
SMALL MIRACLE

This petite powerhouse has fought adversity—and won.By Nancy Averett
Image by Amanda Friedman
From the August 2009 issue of Runner's World

Scout Bassett has always thought of herself as an athlete. But other people have not. When she was 12, the single-leg amputee gave her junior high school's basketball, soccer, and softball teams a shot, only to find that the coaches wouldn't give her one. "It was an incredibly awkward time in my life," says Bassett, now 20. "I sat on the bench a lot. My softball coach didn't let me play at all, ever. I didn't realize the stigma that's attached to being disabled until then. I still remember that to this day. It had a huge effect on me."

A good one, it turns out. Bassett became more motivated than ever to become an athlete; she wanted to prove to those who couldn't see past her prosthetic leg what she was capable of achieving. With a tenacious drive, Bassett transformed herself from benchwarmer to a world-class triathlete. In 2007, she won silver in the above-knee physically challenged division of the ITU World Triathlon Championships, a feat she repeated in 2008. This September, she's going for gold at the championships in Australia.

It might be easy to underestimate the power of such a tiny young woman (Bassett is 4'8", 78 pounds). Yet she's been battling adversity since she was 12 months old, when she was left on the doorstep of a Nanjing, China, orphanage. There was no explanation for her missing lower right leg or the burns and scars on other areas of her body. Her caretakers built her a makeshift prosthesis. "It was made of belt straps and masking tape," Bassett says. "It clanked and fell off." During the next six years, she was passed over for adoptions and was often put to work feeding babies and scrubbing floors.

Then one day in 1994, Susi and Joe Bassett, of Harbor Springs, Michigan, arrived. The Bassetts had flown to China to adopt a baby. While touring the facility, Susi saw a 6-year-old girl with soft brown eyes and a pixie cut, and thought, "She needs me." The Bassetts returned to Michigan with their baby and began making plans to go back for the 6-year-old girl, whom they would name Scout, and a boy they'd also met at the orphanage. Ten months later, the Bassetts were a family of five.

In Michigan, Bassett was fitted with a new prosthesis that enabled her to walk easily, but the leg wasn't designed for quick turns or sprints. So in 2001, the Bassetts met with Stan Patterson, a prosthetist in Florida who helps amputees realize their athletic potential. Patterson made Bassett a leg that allowed her to run and move with agility. With Patterson's encouragement, Bassett ran in a 100-and 200-meter dash for disabled athletes just a few hours after receiving her new leg. Even though she finished last, the experience was defining. "I was in the company of amputees who were also athletes," she says. "It showed me what was possible."

Bassett's high school didn't offer track or cross-country, so she played golf and tennis. Then in 2006, when she enrolled in UCLA on a full academic scholarship (she's now a junior communications major), Bassett decided to get serious about running—and biking and swimming.

Patterson made her two new legs, one for biking and one for long-distance running. Bassett's new running prosthesis was advanced—but heavy. At first, she could barely run 100 yards. Still, she stuck with it, and within three months, she finished her first triathlon (sprint distance). "I didn't feel disabled," she says. "I felt strong and alive. It was empowering."

That's a message Bassett, a spokesperson for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, conveys to the athletes she mentors and the students and executives she addresses. "Everybody has challenges," she says. "No matter what your obstacle is, you can overcome it. Take small steps. As time goes by, the steps will get bigger and you will reach your dream."

This summer, Bassett is squeezing extra running into her training. In addition to the seven triathlons she has scheduled for the rest of the year, she's also planning to do the Silver Strand Half-Marathon, her first distance run, in San Diego in November. Her ultimate goal is to compete in an Ironman and in the 2012 Paralympic Games. Her upward trajectory should surprise no one, says Creighton Wong, a challenged athlete and friend. "She competes and she competes hard," he says. "Don't let that cute smile fool you."

Abercrombie and Fitch is being sued in Great Britain for discriminating against a congenital amputee, claiming that she didn't meet the "Look" code. The college aged employee was hired and then told she would have to work in the stockroom until winter uniforms (that would cover the joint between her arm and prosthetic) were available.



This is at least the second time that the company ha been sued for discrimination. The first time, nine employees claimed there were forced to work in the stockroom because they did not meet the "Look" standards because they were of minority ethnicities.

Click here to read the full story.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1192674/I-banished-stockroom-says-disabled-shop-girl-suing-Abercrombie--Fitch-discrimination.html

Can You Believe This?

The BBC is being criticized by some for hiring a presenter with an upper arm difference to introduce their preschool programming. Although the comments weren't numerous I was surprised by what some people said Some comments were as follows:

"I question the logic of hiring a girl with part of her arm missing (and so obviously placed on display for kids to see it)to present cbeebies."

"I understand that in today's society we have to be politically correct. But how do you explain to a 3-year-old child why the one of the presenters has half an arm. She was extremely upset and confused by this and continues to ask questions.
I am not questioning the ability of the lady who seems very good, but I don’t feel that a channel which targets toddlers and young children is the right place."

It scares me the kind of discrimination that I know we will face in the future.

It also made me pause. I am not a huge fan of the politically correct movement-- it is too often used to bludgeon dissenters into submission, but sometimes things aren't politically correct as just correct.

You can see Cerrie Burnell here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK61ssge600

You can read the whole story here:

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/last-month-the-bbc-children/?apage=3

Who is Sweet Pea?

Back in October we finally decided to pursue our decision to adopt. Why, you might ask? And people do ask. Usually, I divert attention by saying, " It's something that we talked about for a long time." That seems to satisfy most people. What a cop out! That completely does not answer the question.

It took 18 months for us to conceive our first child. In the grand scheme of things it wasn't so bad. We faced a little testing and treatment of Clomid. During this time I really believed that I would never conceive a child. I remember looking at adoption agencies and magazines. Since then we have had three wonderful children, but that was when the seeds of adoption were planted. The fact of the matter is that there are thousands of children who need parents and we want more children.

At first I thought we would adopt from the US foster care system. These kids are frequently call "waiting children." We felt that at this time it was not a good match for our family. We were told that most of the children in our area were over the age of nine. That would make any new child quite a bit older that Wonder Boy. Then I began to wonder if there were "waiting children" in international adoption. Yes! Most had special needs or a medical condition, some of these very serious, some correctable problems, some with problems that would be insurmountable in their birth country, but manageable in the US. But could we be good parents to a child with special needs? I read. I researched. I prayed. I learned more about disabilities than I ever wanted to know: FAS, RAD, PTSD, spina bifida, nystagmus, cleft palate, limb differences, cerebral palsy, ptosis. You name it, I learned about it's cause, treatment, and outcomes. Finally we saw a little girl on a waiting child list and requested more information about her.

Sweet Pea is the beautiful little girl we are adopting (assuming all goes well). She is in Russia and we are impatiently waiting to meet her. Sweet Pea is the same age as Pookie and we hope to bring her home late this year. She is missing part of her legs, but once home she will be fit with prosthetic limbs.