PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

I met Sara & Fred a few years ago when they came to us as Diveheart participants through the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. They returned the next year as mentors to help other new Diveheart participants with disabilities from RIC. This year Sara & Fred took Diveheart buddy training so that they could become buddies for divers with disabilities.

I’m very impressed with how far Sara & Fred have come. In fact, they quit their jobs early this summer to become full time Diveheart volunteers. They always seem so happy and fulfilled and when I asked Sara why that is, she told me that volunteering does that to people.

She explained that you can turn a frown upside down by becoming a volunteer to help others. To support what Sara says is an upcoming book called The Search for Fulfillment by University of Massachusetts at Ambers psychology professor Susan Krauss Whitbourne. Happiness and inner fulfillment is closer than you think….just volunteer.

I tell Sara that her & Fred are the future of Diveheart. She smiles and laughs and then brings Fred out from under her right shirt sleeve. You see, Fred is Sara’s stump…..it’s ok to call her amputation from birth a stump. Sara and Fred are so well adjusted that sometimes Sara dresses Fred up as a scuba diver to entertain new RIC participants, and she always introduces Fred when she meets someone new.

Sara’s personality is engaging and her volunteer spirit is inspiring. Please share her story with someone you know who might need to turn their frown upside down.

Jim Elliott
President of Diveheart

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Diveheart Newsflash Feature Story

"I will never, ever be helpless"

By Sara S. Koehnke

I always have to blink a few times when people ask me what it’s like to have cerebral palsy. Especially considering I am a hand amputee, and don’t "look" like I have CP. It’s somehow assumed that all disabled people know each other and are experts on all disabilities. I do my best not to laugh, and politely explain I have no idea.

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