Middletown South's Catherine O'Kane: Patch's Whiz Kid

Middletown-NJ Patch’s First Whiz Kid: Catherine O’Kane

Submitted by mom, Jocelyne O’Kane

Accomplishments?

It’s a story: Catherine is a swimmer.  She’s been swimming for the Monmouth Barracudas for so long that I can't remember when she didn't.  Swimming is her passion.

So, when the doctors said a shoulder injury meant never swimming again, she went from the doctor's office to practice. 

Doctor upon doctor said the same thing until she voiced, "But swimming makes me better. You're wrong. I need surgery." 

Dr. Alchecht of Hospital of Special Surgery, New York, NY, did exactly that — made her better.  Under the guidance of a very patient coach, two years later, she is dropping seconds on all her times. 

A varsity swimmer all four years at South, she reached her goal to make Shore Conference; not with a 50 free, but with the 500 ... 20 laps.  Stubborn child?  Never missed a practice for her club team. Couldn’t use her arm? She kicked.

What makes her special? 

She understands.  When she coaches a child who is afraid, she truly understands how hard it is.  She shares her love for swimming and her love of children, understanding that one thing is minuscule to one but a mountain to another.  But that doesn't mean you can't do it.

My daughter and coach's motto: “The body achieves what the mind believes.”   

How she’s paying it forward?

Catherine's passion is now helping raise awareness of pediatric cancers.  Two little girls from the swim team were diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma.

Catherine is on the junior board of Make Some Noise: Cure Kids Cancer Foundation, Inc., along with Caitlin Harper, Atlantic Highlands. The organization was founded by (a 10-year-old only known as) Malcolm.  A child battling the disease himself, he wanted the facts about cancer known.  (According to the foundation’s Web site) One in 320 children (in the U.S.) will be diagnosed with cancer. Cancer is the number one killer of children. 

Catherine is joining the Make Some Noise foundation to raise awareness of the facts.  Money is wonderful; but spreading the knowledge of the facts is what needs happen so the funds get moved to pediatric research.  Some of the protocols are 20 years old.

So, coming full circle with the Monmouth Barracudas Swim Team, 250 kids swam the Race for Rachel, our latest little victim of Ewing.  The children did not swim laps.  The coach made everyone swim their hardest events so that Rachel (she was there and swam) would know that her hard journey is being taken with the strength of her teammates beside her.  At present, $18,000 has been raised by the swimmers and donated to Make Some Noise. 

Catherine was not even out of the pool when she was already speaking about the next event.  If the children are able to get the word out about how devastating this disease is, maybe treatments will be more successful.  Maybe the diagnosis won't take so long and the cancer would not have spread.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV8xdknGNg8&feature=player_embedded#at=13  (be warned; you need a tissue)

Anything else?

Catherine is also on the National Honor Society.  She practices every day with her team.  She does her homework.  She is well-liked at school, by her teachers and administrators. 

She is loved by her mother who is writing to you today ….  Maybe she could clean her room a bit better.  But I'm very proud of the person she is and what she wants to accomplish.

Oh, I forgot … 

She has been a lifeguard for Monmouth Beach for a few years now.   She has volunteered, coached their swim team for the past four years and swam for their summer team.   

And there are countless other things for which she finds time to make a difference.  Last year, she helped with Jr. Olympics with Middletown South. She loved that. 

Oh, and she has swam for The Shana Foundation to raise awareness on meningitis.  Shana was a darling who had shown Catherine how to help little kids on the swim team. See: Dolphins Compete in Shana Ocean Mile Swim Race Monmouth Beach NJ www.youtube.com.

The Shana Foundation held an Ocean Mile Swim Race to support their mission preventing deaths and disabilities in children from bacterial meningitis at the Monmouth Beach Bathing Pavillion, Monmouth Beach, New Jersey on Aug. 1, 2010. Visit the organization: http://theshanafoundation.org/

I think Catherine will make a difference in this world even if it is just to bring a smile to a child's face, making them feel stronger by believing that "the body achieves what the mind believes."

Now, that’s a proud mom of a Patch Whiz Kid!