Mariah Melin wanted to follow in her big sister's footsteps.
Destanie Melin, a 2007 Hermantown graduate, was a standout runner for the Hawks cross country and track teams. Mariah, 16, hoped to compete on the same area courses and tracks, but knew at an early age it wasn't probable.
Running proved too painful for Mariah, who was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis -- a chronic disease caused by inflammation that damages and eventually destroys the body's joints, according to the eMedicineHealth Web site -- at age 2. It also forced her to give up sports such as softball and basketball.
"She had just learned how to walk and stopped walking," said Cathy Melin, Mariah's mother, about when she first noticed a problem. "Any time you'd change her shirt, when you'd lift her arms, she would scream. She would cry so much."
The pain, which used to be felt throughout her body, has centralized in Mariah's left eye and knee, where she has had a combined 16 surgeries. She is legally blind in her left eye. Still, it hasn't stopped her from leaving wakes in area pools as a member of the Proctor-Hermantown swim team.
"My doctor said that it would better for me to do something that wasn't as strenuous on my knees," said the Hermantown junior, who began swimming with the team in seventh grade when her friend Nora Stauber made the suggestion.
"It has been really nice. I've always tried to look at it more positively than negatively."
Mariah will be swimming the 100-yard backstroke and 200 freestyle, 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays at the Section 5A tournament in Grand Rapids on Nov. 14-15.
Proctor-Hermantown coach Jon Nelson said Mariah probably is the No. 2 backstroke swimmer in team history.
"She's a tough kid," he said. "She's just a great motivator, hard worker, a role-model athlete, that's for sure."
Mariah and Stauber swam in the offseason at the North Shore Swim Club at the University of Minnesota Duluth to stay in shape and improve times.
"I think that really helped us both," said Stauber, a Hermantown junior who, along with Kristie Albin and Laura Kestie, is Mariah's teammate in the 200 medley relay.
Stauber has been more than a teammate, too. Last year at a meet in Cloquet, an implant in Mariah's eye poked through, causing her pain. Stauber comforted Mariah until she recovered. Mariah went on to compete, posting some of her fastest times of the season.
"Obviously it was kind of hurting," Mariah said with a laugh. "I was kind of crying about it, but I figured I might as well swim; I'm already there. I think because of that I got better times, because I wasn't concentrating on swimming."
Though she can't run like her, Mariah still drums up inspiration from Destanie.
"We're really close. We do a lot of things together," Mariah said. "She means a lot to me."
"She doesn't let it slow her down, she doesn't want sympathy," said Destanie, 19. "She wants to show that she can do things as good, if not better, than everyone else."
JIMMY BELLAMY covers prep girls swimming. He can be reached at (218) 723-5390 or by e-mail at jbellamy@duluthnews.com. To see more of the Duluth News Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.DuluthSuperior.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Duluth News Tribune, Minn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008, Duluth News Tribune, Minn.