Unforgettable little woman a towering inspiration

There is nothing more humbling than seeing people achieve what we cannot. 

But if we are wise, those heroes motivate us to do what we can.

“Katie” was one such inspiration.

She and I attended the same Boston area College. But not at the same time — which is a shame. 

However, years after graduation, Katie became the subject of a television report I wrote about remarkable people. 

I met her on campus when I was ushered into the pool area where several students were laughing and teaching a toddler to swim. Or so I thought. 

Upon closer inspection I realized this tiny bundle of life was actually 18-year-old Katie Lynch. All 28 inches of her. Astounding. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She was having a ball, along with her friends, who were protectively keeping her afloat. Katie couldn’t swim. How could she? She  was just the size of a growing baby.

But what a big personality she packed into her a small body. She was perfectly shaped with an adorable face fitted with thick round petite glasses. It was hard to reconcile the reality of what I was witnessing. A toddler on the outside displaying all the characteristics of a full-grown adult on the inside.

Once she was out of the pool and sitting in her specially designed transport chair, she smiled, shook my hand — which was three times the size of hers — and was ready to talk. 

The beauty of journalism is that it gives you immediate entry into another person’s most intimate world. By virtue of the job, you are given license to ask all those questions of a perfect stranger, that in a social situation you would never dream of pursuing out of sheer politeness.

“What do people think when they first see you,” I asked Katie.

 “Well,” she said, in an underdeveloped, raspy voice, “First they say, ‘wow, what a cute baby.’ “Then I talk....Latin.”

What a laugh we had. What a rare delight she was. Literally. Katie Lynch was born with a form of dwarfism that affects so few of the population that it’s still unnamed. I asked her what her dreams were. “Do you hope to fall in love someday,” I asked.  

“I don’t think about things that can’t happen,” she said in that raspy voice. There was not a trace of anger or regret when she said it. But I couldn’t help but feel sad. She didn’t deserve this life. 

Then I caught myself. Who was I to judge her? This was the life she got. And if she wasn’t going to feel sorry for herself how could I?

Surely she may have had those “why me” moments. But I also believe she made a deliberate decision to focus on the life that she could have and not on the lives that were unavailable to her. That is what successful people do. 

Katie graduated from Regis College Summa Cum Laude. She worked for Childrens’ Hospital and became a popular motivational speaker. Then during the Boston Marathon one year, I went to interview the great record holding marathoner and Olympic runner Bill Rodgers. I found him... talking to Katie! He, too, found her amazing.

Graceful

Her local newspaper, the Weston Town Crier was so impressed with her that they wrote this about Katie:

“At the age of 27, she opened the Boston Marathon and walked 26.2 feet. Katie triumphed over adversity with grace and courage to achieve a personal best and to challenge other athletes with different abilities to think and feel like champions. Her motivational force and mantra was “parva sed potens”.....which, in Latin,  means, small, but powerful.” Because of her physical limitations Katie could not run a 26 mile marathon, but she could walk a 26 foot one.

Do what you can. Try to do more. Be positive. Be grateful. And live the life you have. This may sound like a lot of self-help mumbo jumbo. But together they form a great philosophy to live by. 

One day I Googled Katie wondering what that pint sized spirit was up to now.

I should not have been surprised by what I found.

But I was saddened.

Katie had died just before she turned 28.

In her memory, her parents launched two races to honour her. 

Quite aptly, her father referred to her as the “Little Engine that Could,” and describes on his website his daughter’s “conviction that we all need to acknowledge the worth of every individual and remove the barriers that prevent people from participating in the community.”

And, now, if at times I worry that I might not have the graciousness and strength to weather all that life might throw my way at least I’ll know where to look for inspiration. 

Darlene Mccarthy Barnfield worked as a television anchor and reporter for the NBC -affiliate in Boston (WHDH) and hosted a radio talk show on Boston’s WRKO.
She is now a freelance writer living in Bermuda.