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Years, yards go far for special swimmer
(by Sue Reid - May 03, 2012)
Years, yards go far for special swimmer
By SUE REID
When Solon resident Wendy Weisz completed her 200th length of the pool recently at Solon High School, it marked her 25th year of participation in the Swim for Diabetes event.
While her endurance in years and distance stand out on their own, something else makes Ms. Weisz, 43, stand out among her fellow swimmers. She has Down syndrome.
The 1991 Solon High School graduate has swum each year in honor and recognition of friends and family who have diabetes.
"I had a really good friend, Maureen May," Ms. Weisz said tearfully. "She and I grew up together, and she had diabetes and a lot of things going on." Ms. May, who also had Down syndrome, died in 2010 at the age of 52 from complications of the disease.
Ms. Weisz also has three uncles with diabetes. She said it's important to swim in their honor each year, "because I care about them, and I love them."
Her mother, Colleen Weisz, said that helping others and giving back is something she has instilled in all of her five children. "Every year, they know she will do it," she said of friends and family members who support her daughter for the Swim for Diabetes event, which raises funds for research and supplies.
"I instill in all my children that you help others," Mrs. Weisz said. "If you're given gifts, like the ability to swim, you give back."
Mrs. Weisz and both of her daughters are Eucharistic ministers at Church of the Resurrection in Solon and help prepare food baskets there as part of a program that delivers to sick families during the holidays.
"It helps her to see how lucky she is," Mrs. Weisz said of Wendy. "If something happened where we'd become unlucky, we'd know where to go and how to get help."
Mrs. Weisz took her daughter to practice at the Solon Community Center each weekend leading up to the Swim for Diabetes event.
Ms. Weisz said the most challenging part was practicing her laps on the weekend, when she swims nearly six hours each in preparation.
For the last 12 years, Ms. Weisz has swum 200 lengths for the Swim for Diabetes and worked to reach that goal, her mother said. "She loves to get that little pin," she said of the recognition for participating.
Ms. Weisz has been swimming since she was 22 months old.
She also is an avid reader and painter and enjoys mountain hiking, bird watching and music. In addition, she is also a wonderful cook, her mother said, and makes her own spaghetti sauce.
Ms. Weisz works three days a week in Maple Heights at the adult activity center through the Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. There, she makes handmade greeting cards. She previously worked for 13 years at the Solon McDonald's restaurant.
"She still runs into people who recognize her," her mother said.
Completing the Swim for Diabetes event each year makes her feel "proud and honored," Ms. Weisz said. "It inspires you and makes you feel like you did something good."
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