Lydia’s gift: Swimmer with cancer thinks of others

Lydia Cole has a gift.

She is a talented swimmer — but that’s not the gift we’re talking about.

“This is kind of a distraction,” she said with a laugh, gesturing toward the pool behind her. “It’s very helpful.”

A junior at Thornapple Kellogg High School, she swims through a cooperative program with students from Delton Kellogg and Hastings.

“Lydia is something special.  She works hard,” head coach Carl Schoessel said. “She’s never missed a practice.”

Well, she has missed a few, but it wasn’t by choice.

In May, doctors told Cole she had pancreatic cancer.

See WOODTV