YMCA adaptive program helps girl born without legs learn to swim

Tessa Brown, 7, moves through the water like a mermaid. She twists and turns; she comes up for breath and dives back in. She swims through hoops and grabs diving toys. She spins around and touches the ground.

She is free, joyous.

“It feels good,” she says. “I can do a handstand in the water.”

She figured out how to do that in her friend’s pool.

“I just did it,” she says.

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