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Swimming with the sharks: Kids take physical therapy to the aquarium

Sheeka Sanahori
USA TODAY

 

Children with life-altering injuries swim with whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium.

“It touched me! It touched me!” Liz Pentecost, 15, exclaimed as a whale shark bumped against her body.

She was snorkeling in a large tank filled with whale sharks and other fish at the Georgia Aquarium.

For children like Liz, swimming in the tank with whale sharks was more than a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was physical therapy in the water.

Months earlier, Liz had complained to her parents after lacrosse practice that she had a tingling sensation in her legs. After a visit to the emergency room, doctors diagnosed Liz with transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord, which left her paralyzed from the waist down.

Swimming at the aquarium gave Liz a chance to feel free in the water.

“It’s given me more courage for going in the water, because I can only use my arms, not my legs, so knowing I can still stay afloat and not drown,” Liz said.

The whale sharks nudged her a lot, she said.

Physical therapists guided Liz and other children through the water. Parents waved and took pictures from a tunnel below the tank.

Swimming with the sharks was a reminder for both the kids and the parents that there are no limits, even after a life-altering diagnosis.

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