Yes, I Can: Learning to swim was one of the biggest challenges of my life—and I did it!

“A year ago, I learned how to swim. This has changed the way I think about things. Now I am willing to try things at least once. I have learned I can do something, even when I think I can’t.
On the first day of swimming class, I started down the six stairs into the Rancho Cienega Pool, right next to Dorsey, my high school. I couldn’t have fun like the other students, who were laughing and splashing each other. Because I have cerebral palsy, sometimes my muscles tense up. When I tense up, I sink. I just knew I was going to drown in that icy cold water. If the water could talk, it probably would have said “Get out of my pool!”
I had not been in a pool since I was seven. I still remembered the time I slid down the pool slide and my uncle didn’t catch me! I went way under the blue, blue water. I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t move. And nobody came to get me! Finally my uncle pulled me out, it seemed like 10 minutes later.
That had kept me away from pools until I turned 16. “Relax, sweetie. Remember, you can always stand up,” said lifeguard Marie Lawson. That was easy for her to say. Just standing around in the water was scary for me, even if I had an inner tube to hold onto or a life jacket to keep me afloat. Marie and the other lifeguards, Chris Rivera and Rodney Nelson, were going to have their hands full teaching me to swim.
My first step was to float in an inner tube. Even though the inner tube kept my head above water, and I was in the shallow end, sometimes I got scared and thought I was going to drown if I didn’t stand up. One time, I started calling for help. One of the other swimmers reached out and held my hand until I could let my feet move through the water to the bottom of the pool. I was so thankful.
The day I floated by myself was a big day. Chris usually held me, but then he took his hand away. I didn’t notice because he was talking to me. Then I heard my teacher, Ms. Baylor, yell, “Good job, Desiree!” I was floating by myself for the first time!
Unfortunately, I had just got my hair done. I came out of the pool with big hair like Tina Turner! I didn’t have any gel, so I had to go around school with my hair half-wet in a Peg Bundy style. After school my friend said, “What happened to you? Did you go to a party?” Ever since then, I wear braids so my hair doesn’t get bouffed out.
Pretty soon, I could backstroke, which is floating, kicking and using your hands to pull yourself along. I could blow bubbles and use the wobble, which is a long plastic spongy tube you can put around you.

It got to be fun
As I got used to it, it got to be fun. Swimming makes me feel calm and peaceful. I do a lot of thinking about school, friends, how many laps I did so far. Swimming gave me more self confidence. Every day at the pool there was at least one thing that made me feel better about myself.
One day Chris told me to go to the deep end of the pool.
I refused. I told him I couldn’t go in the deep end. He asked “Who was it that told you that?
“Myself!”
He laughed and pulled me in my inner tube into the deep end. I said, “Okay, I’m ready to go back now.”
The next week he said, “We are not using the inner tube anymore. You’re done with that.”
“Man, the inner tube is my friend.”
“We’re using the life jacket from now on.”
I think the scariest thing I ever did was jump off the diving board. There were two reasons I decided to try. One was I dreamed that I dived off the board with Michael DeLorenzo, my favorite TV actor. The other was I had seen one of my friends who is blind and has cerebral palsy go off the board. I told Chris I wanted to jump off the diving board, too.
“You want to do what?”
“Jump off the diving board.”
Then he said, “Okay, let’s go.” I got out of the pool, got a life jacket and an inner tube, and went up on the diving board. He held my hand. He counted to 10, and I jumped! It felt funny. After I finished I was shaking, I was so nervous. Chris smiled and said, “This is the best that you have ever done. You have a better attitude, more positive.” He was so proud of me.
I didn’t always have a good attitude. I like to take shortcuts, like wearing fins or holding onto the rope. One time Chris came in and saw me swimming in my fins exactly like a fish. Chris wanted me to learn to swim without fins, but I liked the fins because they gave me more power. When he got into the pool, I tried to get away so he couldn’t take my fins. He had to grab me to get the fins off of me. He said, “Look, I didn’t teach you this. Now, backstroke.” So I did.
Later on, I was pulling both arms back at the same time for my backstroke. He didn’t like that either. He reminded me I had to do it the correct way for the final.
I said, “I’m going to get an F on the final.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am. I am going to take too long.” I told him so many silly things he added five laps to the 10 I was going to have to do.
For my final, I swam those 15 laps in the life jacket and jumped into the deep end by myself. I wasn’t even nervous. Chris timed me and I did everything right. I could tell he was happy.

They wanted me to give up the life jacket
Meanwhile, I kept learning more and more. Pretty soon Marie asked me to swim without my life jacket. I told her I couldn’t. But Marie saw something strong inside of me and tried to bring it out. She said, “Yes, you can, Desiree. You don’t need the life jacket, you don’t need the inner tube.” She was right, but it took me a long time to get it in my head.
One day Marie told me to go over to the deep end of the pool and swim freestyle without my jacket. Freestyle is when you swim forward on your stomach, so it’s harder to breathe. I knew I could backstroke without my life jacket, but not freestyle! But I counted to three and pushed off the wall and swam to her. She was so proud of me. I did great.
Without my life jacket, I naturally wanted to grab the pool rope or the side of the pool. Marie told me not to, so I’d swim over to the rope when she wasn’t looking my way.
Rodney Nelson, our third lifeguard, has a lot of zeal for life. He loved to tease me when I was swallowing too much water by telling me that I can’t breathe water.
One time he said, “Desiree, the pool is closed.”
I said, “Wait a minute, my teacher just dropped me off.”
“Hurry up and catch her.” Then he looked at me with a smile. “I’m just playing with you, Desiree.” I tried to chase him but he got on his skateboard beside the pool and skated away.

Go jump in a pool
One day, I finished my last lap and Chris told me to get out of the pool. I ask “Chris, what are we doing next?”
Chris looked at me and said “We’re going to jump into the pool.”
I started to whine. “Chris, I don’t want to jump on three… Please don’t make me.”
“Why are you acting this way? You’ve done this before… Okay we’re jumping on five.”
“No.”
“You’re jumping.”
“No.”
“We’ll jump on three.”
“Five.”
“Okay.”
I said, “I’ll count—one, two, three, four, four and a half… five.”
We jumped.
I’m now one of the swimmers, instead of being the girl who sits around the swimming pool with family and friends. If someone splashes me, I’ll just splash them right back. My goal is to learn the butterfly stroke—it’s so graceful. This would have never happened without the support of Chris Rivera, Marie Lawson, and Rodney Nelson who did not allow me to use my disability as an excuse for not learning how to swim.”

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