2 Dolphins, 1 girl, 1 connection by love

One of my favorite animals is the dolphin.  I love all dolphins, but two stand out from the rest – Winter and Hope from Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA).  

Here’s how it all started. I have Apert’s Syndrome, a genetic disorder in the acrocephalosyndactyly (try saying that word 5x fast) family, so I have had periodic surgeries throughout my life.  In January 2012, I was recovering from a very painful toe separation surgery.  I was born with webbed toes and two surgeries were required to separate them.  To help pass the time (the pain was keeping me up at night), my Mom was downloading movies for us to watch.  We found the movie Dolphin Tale.  This movie spoke to me like no other!  The movie told the story of Winter the dolphin and her determination to never give up. She learned to swim with no tail. I thought maybe I could grow up to be like her.  This really inspired me.  

That spring, I was dreading the second part of the toe separation, so my mom asked what I wanted to do for Spring Break.  Are you surprised that I chose Clearwater? My whole family agreed, and we set off on a road trip.

That spring, I got my first sight of Winter, and I really connected with her.  I adopted the phrase, “If Winter Can, I Can,” and I still tell myself this today.  I also discovered that there were three other special dolphins at CMA: Hope, Nicholas, and Panama.  After I recovered from my second toe surgery that year, we went back to Clearwater and I got to be the Trainer for a Day (my 12^thbirthday gift) with Panama – who shared a pool with Winter.  This was the closest I had ever been to Winter and it felt amazing!

In 2013, we went back to CMA for our third visit.  Sadly, Panama had just passed away of old age.  During my first two visits, I didn’t pay much attention to the smaller dolphin that was with Winter and Panama.  However, during this visit, I was much more aware of Hope and how active and playful she was.  They were filming Dolphin Tale 2 on weekdays during this time, so the aquarium was only open on the weekends.   This was the visit where I discovered what would become my favorite spot in the aquarium – the underwater viewing area.  I spent as much time as I could watching Winter and Hope both above ground and at the underwater windows.  

Since I first “met” Winter, I have followed CMA on social media.  In the summer of 2014, I saw on the CMA Facebook page that they were having a contest as part of the introduction of the Dolphin Tale 2 movie. The contest involved making your own multi-media presentation about why you should win a “Trainer for a Day” with Hope and meet the actress Austin Highsmith from the movie. I decided to give it a shot, and I was willing to do whatever I could to win that thing! 

Not only was doing this project fun, but it helped me overcome a fear. Up until this time, I hated to see pictures of myself as a young child in the hospital. My parents used to take pictures of me hooked up to tubes and with bandages all over me. Those pictures scared me, and I didn’t want to remember any of that. However, I felt like my best shot to win the contest was to tell my story and to show the pictures of how far I had come. This project brought me a realization that those pictures demonstrate what makes me special.  

My mom went on a work trip for a couple of days, and we had a babysitter that was very good with videos. She helped me to make a movie about my journey, and my dad helped at night.  This project really helped me to accept my past story and made me proud of who I am and how far I have come – which was a really important step for me. We spent hours picking the right pictures and the best way to tell my story.  We wrote a script that went along with a slideshow of my story and how Winter had helped me get through some tough times.  The end result was a 3:42 minute video with me narrating.  I worked very hard to speak clearly so that they could understand me when I narrated, because I wanted them to hear my voice telling the story. When my mom came back home, it was time to submit the video.  

We submitted it, kept our fingers crossed, thought positive thoughts, and prayed.   To find out how the contest turned out, you’ll have to wait until my next blog post.