Julia and Pascal Gouteix competed in their first paired triathlon
this weekend, and it was such an amazing experience. The journey this has taken
Pascal on has been such a pleasure and an honor to witness up close.
As some of you may know, we first became connected to The
Kyle Pease Foundation through The
Bert Show as part of a Father’s Day surprise for Pascal. In conjunction
with Fragile Kids Foundation, they provided him with a raft to pull Julia along
on the swim, a bike trailer and extra supportive seating to keep Julia
comfortable during the race. Pascal has always been active, and had completed
several triathlons prior to Julia’s arrival and this became a great opportunity
for them to find something fun to do together.
The equipment provided was the catalyst for Pascal to
make this dream a reality, but the connections we've made as a result have been priceless. It's so hard to feel connected when
you're a parent of a child with a disability, especially when connection often
means being stuck in some dreary support group that can leave you feeling
hopeless. I hate to generalize, but this seems especially true for fathers.
Since the show aired, Pascal has received so much support
from a technical standpoint from Brent Pease at foundation, but also from an
emotional standpoint as well. We've been put in touch with amazing families
that are living parallel journeys to ours, and words really can't describe how
good it feels to have those connections. As parents of a three-year-old with
cerebral palsy, meeting athletes like Kyle, Marin Smith, Justin Knight and
Kevin Enners give us so much hope for the future. Their parents and siblings
aren’t too shabby either.
It's difficult to say that you won't let your family be
defined in any way, shape, or form by the disability of your child, because it
truly shakes your world in ways that you can't imagine. But I do believe that
you can choose to be defined by your response to it. Our hope is that people
can see that having a child with a disability is not a tragedy, it's not a
burden. As corny and contrived as it may sound-it's a blessing in so many
unexpected ways. We are so lucky to have found this amazing, supportive group
of athletic families and we look forward to many, many more races in the near
future!