It’s not life-changing. But it’s just another positive thing for them. The more good things in their lives, that’s always a good thing, right? – BYU junior Craig Merkley
PROVO — No one at Burton Elementary would have made Michael George participate in a required physical fitness test.
The 12-year-old packs an oxygen tank with him everywhere he goes because he suffers from a condition so rare, it doesn’t even have a name.
He shrugs when asked about it because he didn’t even know if they’d make an exception for him.
Instead, he asked his parents to do what they’ve always done — help him find a way.
“I didn’t ask,” George said of taking the Presidential physical fitness test required of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders. “I don’t want to be left out and have them say, ‘Oh, he’s a little kid who doesn’t have to do that.’ That’s not who I am.”
He’s the kid who would love to be free from the oximeter, a device that constantly monitors whether he is getting enough oxygen.
He’d love to abandon the oxygen tanks and tubes, which save his life when his body threatens to fail him.
He’s the kid who learned to accept what he couldn’t change, but also to reject the kind of limits that some wanted to put on him.
The Kaysville resident may be tethered to medical equipment, but he’s figured out not just how to run with his friends, but how to play soccer, to ballet dance, and to swim better than most kids his age.
And Tuesday night, he was the kind of kid who inspired dozens of other kids who also have lives riddled with medical issues that frustrate and frighten them to run a mile alongside him on BYU's track.
"Michael’s Mile" was the newest addition to the 3-year-old Couragous Kids Invitational track meet at BYU on Tuesday. It’s a program started by former Cougar track team member Tammy Bowers. She wanted to give children with rare, potentially life-threatening conditions or diseases the chance to experience the joy of track and field.
“Most of these kids won’t be able to run track in high school or college,” said Bowers, who has a 4-year-old son, Landon, that suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy syndrome and had a heart transplant. “So to have a day where they’re normal and they get to do stuff like this is important.”
The track meet had that controlled-chaos feel and included personal bests, moments of triumph, and a bit of celebrating, especially when Cosmo made an appearance. Some youngsters were very competitive, while others were happy just to give each event a try.
Bowers invited families from three of the organizations in which she’s involved — Hope Kids, for children with life-threatening illnesses; Intermountain Healing Hearts, for kids with heart conditions; and Angel's Hands, for kids with rare syndromes. Landon made the Bowers family a member in all three groups. Last year about 40 children signed up, but this year about 120 participated.
Modifications to the standard track and field events make it a bit more kid-friendly, while still introducing them to the various events. There was a 55-yard dash; a discus (Frisbee) throw; long jump; shot put (softball); and a version of the javelin where kids threw Nerf footballs.
The point is to have as much fun in two hours as humanly possible. For some kids that meant trying everything. For others it meant participating in their favorite event over and over and over.
Little Zachary Wright, 4, of Provo was dressed in jeans and sandals, but his face was flush with the effort of racing the 55-yard dash repeatedly.
For Spencer Bleyl, 3, setting up the starting blocks was his favorite part. His sister, Brinley Bleyl, 6, had so much fun having a volunteer push her wheelchair during Michael’s Mile, she begged to “keep running!”
“They can do whatever they want, and we write down their best times or throws,” Bowers said. “Then, at the end, they all get medals for participating.”
BYU junior Craig Merkley, who throws the hammer and discus for the Cougars, said the event is as much fun for the college athletes as it is for the families invited.
“It’s really fun,” said the California native. “They’re all happy to be here so it’s easy to work with them.”
A few hours of sports won’t change any of the realities facing these families, but that’s not the point.
“It’s not life-changing,” Merkley said. “But it’s just another positive thing for them. The more good things in their lives, that’s always a good thing, right?”
But for the George family, it has been more than a few hours of fun. Michael came to the event the first year Bowers and the BYU track athletes teamed up to host the meet.
“He loved it,” said Michael’s mom, Sarah. “He loved trying all of the activities. We are huge Olympic fans; we say we’re Olympic freaks. … When we watched the Olympics, he’d say, ‘I’ve done that, I’ve thrown that, and I’ve played that.’”
He enjoyed himself so much that when his fourth-grade class was asked to run the half-mile as part of the Presidential fitness test, he knew he could do it.
“It was pretty much after he came here and decided, ‘Hey, I like running,'” Sarah said laughing because neither she nor her husband enjoy the sport. “But if you want to, we’ll encourage you and help you in any way we can.”
A friend offered him some coaching advice, while his mom helped him revamp a CamelBak. Instead of carrying water for him, as it was intended, it carries his oxygen tank, while the water hose carries the tubing for his nose. It’s the system she and her husband, Dennis, came up with so Michael could play soccer.
They utilize a waist bag and tiny tanks to accommodate his ballet costume and he simply swims with long tubing and a tank on the side of the pool, which allows him to take lessons alongside his friends. When he runs down the track toward the long jump, his sister, Megan Capenar, 14, carries the backpack carrying his oxygen running alongside him until he jumps into the sand pit.
His life is a constant effort to find ways to do what he loves.
Sarah George said when Michael was younger he was angry that he had to wear the oximeter and was saddled with oxygen tanks.
“We had a lot of discussions about, ‘It’s OK to be mad about this. You don’t have to love this, but you have to do this,'” she said. “He’s come to the point where he says, ‘I don’t love it, but we do it.’ We make accommodations.”
There were doctors who discouraged the Georges from having Michael and his sister, Isabelle, 6, who suffers from the same rare syndrome, from participating in any kind of athletics.
“There were times when they said, ‘Obviously, he’ll saturate better if he’s (inactive), so just have him sit there and do nothing,'” she said. “We said, ‘That’s not an acceptable solution in our opinion. If we’re going to be alive, then let’s live life.'”
They found doctors who are supportive of Michael’s love of athletics, and in fact, believe it will help him manage the problems.
“They’re not saying, ‘You shouldn’t be doing that; it’s going to strain them too much,'” Sarah George said. “They’re actually saying, ‘The more active you can be, the more they can live a normal life.’ It's better for them.”
In fact, it’s enhanced their lives so much, the George family finds ways for them to exercise, no matter what the circumstances.
“We find they are happier and healthier when they’re out and active,” Sarah said. “We’re finding the more active they can be, the better controlled their breathing and their heart rates are. A lot of the systems in their bodies are more controlled. This summer was so hot and they don’t do well in the heat, so we’d take them to the gym and they’d run on the treadmill. Michael actually came to me and said, ‘I feel so much better when I’m active.’”
Dennis George loves the Courageous Kids Track Meet because it offers children and their families a chance to try something they might otherwise avoid.
“It’s a great opportunity for all of the children to get out and just experience life,” he said. “Seeing all the different aspects, regardless of whether you have struggles in your life, you can choose to live with them or to overcome them and just be the best you can at whatever you try.”
Which is why, when asked to run a mile at school as part of the Presidential fitness test in fifth grade, Michael didn’t look for a way out. Instead, he committed to training so he could run it in less than eight minutes, which is the requirement that earns a student a Presidential fitness certificate.
He beamed when asked about having the one-mile race named after him.
“That’s really cool,” he said, acknowledging that he may not be very fast Tuesday because he’s recovering from pneumonia. “But we’re not always here to win. We need to have fun too.”
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