Eagan's Mallory Weggemann to Swim at Rio Paralympics

Eagan native Mallory Weggemann has been swimming since age 7, even after suffering an injury that changed her life.

Weggemann received several epidural injections to treat back pain caused by a shingles infection. According to the Star Tribune, after the third shot, Weggemann lost all feeling and movement below her abdomen.

Doctors thought the injury would be temporary, but she remains paralyzed eight years later.

Weggemann eventually learned about the Paralympics when the trials for the U.S. swim team for the Beijing Paralympics were held at the University of Minnesota.

Weggemann quickly became a top paralympic swimmer, winning won gold and bronze medals at the 2012 London Paralympics. She said gained strength through swimming, so much so that she didn’t feel limited by her injury, until a shower bench in a hotel room collapsed underneath her in March 2014.

She was told the severe nerve damage in her arm is permanent.

Despite losing most of the function in her left arm, she won a place on the U.S. team for the Rio Paralympics.

Weggemann will swim in seven individual events. Her first event, the 400-meter freestyle, begins Thursday.

Read more at the Star Tribune.

Image: David Jones via Flickr /Creative Commons