A MIDDLE SCHOOLER’S INSPIRATIONAL STORY
Natalie George is an 11-year old from Cimarron and she is visually impaired. “She had a stroke when I was pregnant with her, or during delivery, which affected her vision center of her brain,” said her mother Marie George. “At about 14 months old is when we started noticing vision delays and had a brain MRI. She was diagnosed with cortical visual impairment, it affects depth perception, peripheral vision , she basically has neither of those and then everything is a cluster to her.”
This is Natalie’s first year of competitive running and she doesn’t let her extremely limited vision restrict her from her passion which keeps her happy. “I’m usually thinking about happy stuff,” said Natalie. “I’m more positive than negative.”
“Her whole life she said she wants to be with her friends and wants to do what her friends do and she got the opportunity to,” said her mother.
Natalie is guided by a coach who helps her navigate the course. Sometimes they use a tether and other times it’s not required. “If it’s a road or something, I get used to it pretty fast,” explained Natalie.
“Sometimes when we run on really good roads she’ll run alone and I’ll be able to tell her if there’s a rock or a pothole or something coming around,” said her guide and PE teacher Eric Coca.
“It makes my life a lot easier by telling me where things are, where all the rocks are and ditches are,” said Natalie
With a display of courage and determination, Natalie is a true inspiration for what is possible. “She’s an inspiration to our team and to our community and all the athletes around,” said her coach Angel Gonzales. “She shows everyone what adversity is and how to deal with it and that no matter what challenges you face you could do anything.”
“We could be negative, or we could be positive and Natalie is always very positive about everything she does,” said Coca.
Natalie hopes her story will motivate others who are visually impaired. “I hope they let kids with low vision come out here and run because that’s a big deal for low vision people to just run,” she said.
Natalie is proof that determination and drive with a positive spirit can overcome any obstacle.
