Salt Lake Comic Con 2014

Nothing is going to stop Erica Owens, anything from A to Y

She really is the girl who can do anything she put her mind to. She does everything from dance, to music, making friends and being the life of the party. But for Erica Owens, she found her passion in playing soccer.

Owens grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah in the Sugarhouse area with a loving family and a passion for being the best, and working hard for it.  

“She’s super competitive,” Owens childhood friend Clara Toronto said, “and just naturally good at everything she tries.”

Since she was a kid, Owens had played soccer recreationally, and played competitively all the way up to college. When she got into high school she decided to continue her love in soccer and tried out for the team, and of course made it.

At Highland high school in Salt Lake, she was the star goalie all the way to her senior year, winning awards in the athletics department, and on the side making the varsity basketball team, not even having any background in basketball. Owens was the student body vice president, involved in Madrigals and still made time to keep practicing soccer.

When she decided to play soccer it was during her senior year, “I’d already had a bunch of offers (from different colleges). Yeah once people started convincing me to do it with schooling I was like ‘why not?’”

Owens got offers from schools like Stanford, Notre Dame, Boston College and local universities as well.

“I didn’t ever want to play keeper. I stick with keeper because I definitely not meant to be a forward. I’m tall, I’m just better at catching things,” Owens said.

When she decided to play soccer in college she would practice for hours every day. What inspired her to work so hard was knowing that she had a team relying on her, and that she had to do her job.

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Owens said, “Even if that means putting in extra time.”

She decided on BYU, and was the star goalie for the women’s soccer team while working on her degree in exercise and wellness.

“There were points every single practice where I thought it wasn’t worth it, it’s hard to keep a positive mindset,” Owens said talking about the struggles of being a student athlete, “You don’t feel adequate as a freshman, but I just had to keep pushing through, and it was in the end definitely worth it.”

Owens graduated from BYU in 2014, becoming the face of the BYU women’s soccer team. She hopes to continue her field in soccer, but for now she works on what she earned with her degree as a personal trainer, helping people to be as fit as she is. But she still has dreams of becoming a professional soccer player.

“There’s rumors of (Salt Lake’s) Real’s premiere women’s team going pro and I think I’m going to try out for it. By think I mean I’m going to definitely try out.” 

For Some Utahns with disabilities, religion plays an important role in their lives

Religion plays a huge part in many people’s lives, not only those living in Utah, but also throughout the United States.

The LDS Chapel at 2700 South and Filmore Street. Kirsten Morrise attends this ward weekly.

According to a 2007 Pew Research Center study,about 78.4 percent of the U.S. is of a Christian faith, while 4.7 percent are of other faith, and only 16.1 percent of the population is unaffiliated with any religion.

Some people with disabilities who have faith look toward their deity in a way that people without disabilities don’t. In Utah especially, religion plays a big part in the lives of many people. About 62 percent of Utahns are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Three local LDS individuals who have disabilities have a range of different thoughts toward their relationship with their creator.

Jeremy Chatelain is a seminary teacher for the church. Just after he got married, he was on a trip with this family in Idaho because his brother was going to leave on an LDS mission. A tradition in his family when he was growing up was jumping off a bridge near where they liked to vacation. His wife dove in and realized it was really shallow, but she wasn’t able to warn Chatelain. He dove off and broke his fifth and sixth vertebrae, an injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

“Religion is a huge aspect of people’s lives who have disabilities,” Chatelain said. “It (religion) gives you a reason to get up in the morning. I think that’s why I keep going every day.”

Chatelain still doesn’t know why this had to happen to him. He admits he doesn’t always have a smile on his face because of what he has to go through every day. But he still looks toward his religion that believes after this life, his body will be made perfect, and that God has a plan for him.

“My faith has been motivation to accomplish the things I’ve wanted to do, along with my family,” Chatelain said.

He earned his master’s degree in education from Idaho State University in 2005, specializing in curriculum and instruction. He is now working on his dissertation about First Amendment implications in LDS Church history from 1829 to 1844 at the University of Utah.

According to a study done by the National Organization on Disabilities, as reported byDisabilities and Faith.org, 85 percent of people with and without disabilities say that religion is important in their lives. Unfortunately, only 47 percent of people with disabilities can attend their church services once a month because of the struggles of getting to their meetings.

Some don’t choose to worship because they feel alienated by their congregation and don’t like the culture of their religion, not their deity, but the way their religion portrays how a person must always act.

Kirsten Morrise, 20, who attends Utah State University, is an active member of the LDS church and loves her religion. But the culture of the religion is something that has rubbed her wrong.

“There’s a stigma to not being within the status quo, the status quo being happy sunshine,” said Morrise, who suffers from Pierre Robin syndrome. The condition makes breathing hard for her because of the way her jaw is structured. She also suffers from forms of cerebral palsy and depression. “Being disabled, people in the church sometimes like to say ‘God made you this way so you could have this trial’ or ‘God is punishing somebody else and making you this way to punish them for something they did.’”

Morrise said she wishes people wouldn’t see her disability as a punishment or a challenge.

But for other people with disabilities, religion can help not only them, but also those in the congregation.

Metal cross on top of the steeple at the Wasatch Presbyterian Church, 1626 S. 1700 East, in Salt Lake City.

“I’ve learned the hard way that being imperfect and allowing people to help provides blessings in their lives,” said Jeni Sewell Roper, who lives in Orem. “(It) blows me away sometimes at just how much this happens.”

Sewell Roper, who has cerebral palsy, doesn’t like being seen as a person with a disability. Growing up, she didn’t like people helping her. To her, everyone has a disability — hers just happens to be something that everyone can see.

“Well, I teach and I know that we are all divinely designed to be imperfect,” she said in an email interview. “And I believe personally that I said ‘ok’ to this before I was born.”

Sewell Roper admits that during her teenage years she would have committed suicide if it weren’t for her religion. “If this was all that life had to offer what’s the point?” she said.

She taught herself how to walk and doesn’t have to use a wheel chair or crutches. She now participates in and helps out with 5Ks around the Salt Lake Valley and is a part of the National Speakers Association. She speaks to LDS youth groups around the state about her life. The title of her speech is “Wiggle Room.”

“And I’m learning as I speak that my disability helps me relate to people on a very intimate level,” Sewell Roper said. “Because ALL of us have ‘stuff.'”

TRAILS creating paths to success

After sustaining a spinal cord injury, it’s hard to get back into life as it was before. But, a program in Salt Lake City called TRAILS can help those individuals become involved in recreational sports.

Sugar House Park is an area where TRAILS participate in preparing for races and other events. Photo by Natalie Christensen.

TRAILS (Therapeutic Recreation & Independent Lifestyle) helps anyone with a spinal cord injury get out and be active in outdoor recreational sports like skiing, hiking, kayaking and more. The main goal of this program is to help people not just physically, but also spiritually and mentally by keeping a tight community of people affected with spinal injuries.

TRAILS is housed in the University Hospital, which provides most of its funding. Medical residents as well as trained volunteers assist with the program by helping participants in the outdoor activities.

“We have a community of people with spinal injuries,” said Tanja Kari, the TRAILS program coordinator, in a phone interview. “Peer mentors are able to help each other.”

Mentors and participants give advice and share feelings and thoughts about this new part of their life with their peers. According to the TRAILS website, “The Peer/Mentor Program is a collaboration with United Spinal Association and links an experienced mentor to a peer who will work on problem-solving, self-management and assist with assimilation into an active lifestyle.”

Wally Lee has been involved with the program for five years and has really enjoyed it and what it has to offer.

“Having a spinal cord injury and trying to do something is an effort,” Lee said in a phone interview. “It’s a hassle to find transportation. Having a spinal cord injury is hard but everything is there (with TRAILS).”

Lee explained that getting any equipment to do anything with a spinal cord injury makes it hard to do recreational sports and is very expensive. But now that he has access to the equipment he is able to participate in activities he used to do before he became paralyzed.

Because of TRAILS Lee has been able to do recreational activities with not only other participants, but also with his family again. Lee is now teaching others with spinal cord injuries how to play wheelchair tennis,  and do sit skiing as well as other sports.

“I really enjoy it (TRAILS),” Lee said. “Having a wheelchair, you get isolated because you don’t want to be around people in wheelchairs so you end up alone, but with recreation you can integrate back into able bodied recreation.”

TRAILS coordinator Tanja Kari had her arm amputated at birth. She has always been an active athlete, and has been involved with sports for people with disabilities her whole life. She was also a gold medalist in cross country skiing in the 2003 Paralympics. However, she agrees that TRAILS has been a highlight.

“Being disabled is limiting,” Kari said. “Seeing people in the hospital then getting back into activities is incredible. It’s a privilege to be a part of.”

Kari and Jeffrey Rosenbluth M.D., assistant chief of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at University Hospital, started the program in 2006. Rosenbluth, who specializes in spinal cord injuries, had envisioned this program even before Kari came along. But with a professional in the medical field and an athlete who has been involved with sports for people with disabilities, TRAILS has become a success.

Kari explained that many people who sustain a spinal cord injury don’t usually want to be involved in sports, but when they join TRAILS their attitude changes and they end up loving this new way to participate in recreational sports.

Participants don’t have to be a patient at the University Hospital. It is open to anyone with a spinal injury.

People who are interested in volunteerting with TRAILS don’t have to be a nurse or a professional. Volunteers will be trained in how the equipment works and how they can help the participants with spinal injuries get back into activities that they were once involved in, or try a new sport they didn’t know about.

The Life and Success of Kirsten Morrise

Meet Kirsten Morrise, her friends and family through photos.
Pierre Robin Syndrome is not a very well-known condition that is found in between one in 8,000 to one in 30,000 children born.

Pierre Robin Syndrome is a condition that comes in three stages, namely a cleft pallet,micrognathia (meaning a smaller jaw) and glossoptosis, an obstruction by the tongue from breathing.

Kirsten Morrise, a resident of Salt Lake City in the Sugar House area, has been dealing with Pierre Robin syndrome from the day she was born.

With her cheery personality and positive attitude, you wouldn’t believe the struggles this 20-year-old has gone through. She has been in and out of hospitals her whole life and  has undergone 40 surgeries. She has struggled with depression, been bullied through school and has overcome some learning struggles.

At a very young age she had a tracheotomy placed on her throat. Not only was this a burden for young Kirsten, but also for her mother Lisa who was taking care of two other children with medical needs.

“Kirsten was very sick and we were basically running an ICU and Timothy (her brother) was bouncing off the walls, and Michael (her brother) needed breathing treatments,” her mother Lisa said. “She was in the hospital 16 times her first year.”

Lisa said it was by the grace of God that she made it through that first year. Even with her two older boys needing help, having a child with a tracheotomy meant she needed to be at Kirsten’s bedside at all times.

When Kirsten had her tracheotomy removed at the age of 1, Lisa was able to return to work while neighbors watched Kirsten. Soon after however, problems started rising again.

“There were days when she couldn’t walk,” Lisa said. “And it was very strange … and things got a lot worse.”

Because of the lack of oxygen to her brain, Kirsten was having seizures which were getting worse and worse. Even with treatment, her seizures weren’t getting any better.

“‘Kirsten is sick get over it,’ was basically the attitude of a lot of professionals had that I talked to,” Lisa said. “But she kept getting sicker and sicker, and it got to the point where she couldn’t sit down on a couch without falling off because she was so out of it.”

As many times as Lisa tried to take Kirsten back to the hospital, they weren’t getting any help.

“And it’s like you’re running into a brick wall,” Lisa said. “It’s the scariest thing in the world to have your child be sick and have people not pay attention to you.”

Finally Kirsten was able to get the treatment but needed more surgeries.

She missed a lot of school because of the surgeries, and her social life wasn’t going very well either. A lot of Kirsten’s friends didn’t know how to treat her because of her surgeries. They saw her as being delicate rather than a normal kid.

“A lot of people don’t know what to say to me, because I’ve been through so much,” Kirsten said. “But I say they’re human. Do I really want them to be fully aware of what I’m experiencing?”

When Kirsten turned 6, she started skiing in Park City with The National Ability Center, a program that helps young kids recognize their strengths and helps build their self-esteem. The National Ability Center allowed Kirsten to participate in downhill skiing, and she had her own instructors to help her.

“My mom got me into skiing to help my upper trunk strength,” Kirsten said. “But as I got older and got better at it, it became not a pursuit (of) something to prove — I’m not delicate — but another activity I could add to my collection of talents I had.”

Kirsten went on in 2009 to win the gold medal in downhill skiing in the Special Olympics in advanced skiing.

Kirsten enjoyed skiing much more than physical therapy, it was more enjoyable and fun, and she could be outdoors. A lot of children with disabilities prefer to have their physical therapy this way, and Kirsten always looks back on the skiing experience with a lot of pride.

In 2005 Kirsten had screws put in her jaw called jaw distractors. The screws were visible on the outside of Kirsten’s face. When the screws were turned it forced her jaw forward so the jaw bone behind it could grow.

When asked if it hurt, she explained, “Yeah, you try getting the bone in your face being gradually moved forward.”

But, she added, “knowing what the end result is supposed to be makes it easier to endure.”

When she was 12, she attended LDS Brighton Girls camp. She enjoyed that summer so much she went back a second time and then finally went back as a helper in the kitchen in 2009 and then worked as the Craft Shack in 2010.

Kirsten loved it so much because the people there didn’t treat her like she was a disabled person. “They treated me like I was a human being,” she said. “There I had a blank slate, no one knew about my past … they let me do everything that everybody else did.”

Even having to wear an oxygen tank on her back as she went hiking her first year, she had fun with the girls telling them she was a cyborg.

If you ask anyone who worked with Kirsten at Brighton Camp a huge grin will come across their face.

Michelle Theurer was one of Kirsten’s good friends who worked at Brighton Camp with her. “It was great she always has something to say,” Theurer said. “So there’s never a quiet moment with her and she’s a really hard worker. Even with her limitations she’ll do whatever she can do.”

Theurer said Kirsten was always positive and was involved. She made things so much more fun because she saw them in a completely different way. “We would have time where we’d just hang out and it would be so fun to tease because she just dishes it right back at you, and she’s really ticklish.”

When Kirsten entered high school at Highland High, she was bullied by students taking her scooter and teasing her, calling her retarded and stupid.

“I have cerebral palsy and I have mood disorders, and I have hypotonia which means low muscle tone,” Kirsten said. “Those things have kind of caused with the bullying because of my posture and people look at me funny and also not being very athletic influenced the bullying.”

While attending high school, Kirsten was also going to college because of how much her surgeries held her back.

Kirsten attended Utah State University, because neither Brigham Young University nor the University of Utah sounded appealing.

“I made a plan to get to college,” Kirsten said. “And even though I got to college late, I had a plan I would get all of my high school work done by a certain time, and I would be able to function well enough to go to college.”

She picked social work as a major because she wanted to help others. “I feel like I have a capacity of empathy and I feel like I can give so much,” Kristen said.

Theurer also attended Utah State with Kirsten.

“Even though she may have challenges,” Theurer said. “She is always quick to realize that others have challenges too. She doesn’t seek for pity, but she does seek to serve others.”

Kirsten is looking toward the surgery that will fix it all. The procedure is called an End to End Anastomosis. Doctors will take out the part of the trachea that is scarred and then sew the ends of her trachea together. She went in early 2013 to Cincinnati to have the surgery done, but her throat wasn’t ready for it. So, on Dec. 10, 2013, she had surgery to advance her upper and lower jaws and tongue.

“Even though I have all these issues, I have a plan for how I’m going to do things and make sure I can do them,” Kirsten said. “I can take care of myself, I can do school, I can go on hikes, just not on big ones, and I’m a gold medalist in downhill skiing. Anything I put my mind to most of the time, I can do.”