Paralympian Leanne Smith returns to Massachusetts with 2 gold medals
BOSTON - A welcome home at Logan Airport Monday night that felt as good as gold, and Leanne Smith would know. The stellar swimmer from Salem toted two gold and two silver medals from the Paris Paralympic Games.
"It's crazy. It is. It takes a lot deep down inside. There's just something that is always so determining," she said.
Leanne was diagnosed with the rare neurological muscle disease dystonia in 2012. But it was her condition just two summers ago that makes her record-breaking feat, feel unbelievable.
"We did not see this coming at all," said her proud brother Eric.
She'd suffered a partially collapsed lung, and from the ICU went to Spaulding Rehab where Leanne had to relearn how to speak, swallow, and eat.
"To get back out there and swim as amazing as she did. It was just awesome," he said.
"Nothing's going to slow her down"
"To see her keep pushing through. It's beyond words. I could never do what she's done. She just has that determination that nothing's going to slow her down. There's nobody like her," said Leanne's uncle Bob Mailhoit.
And her story's far from finished.
"I want to prove to everyone I can do hard things. And for people with disabilities to not allow people label you. Set your own goals and set your own path and go chase your dreams," Smith said.