Megan Anderson

My name is Megan Anderson. I am 30 years old and was born and raised on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I was born with the birth defect, lipomyelomeningocele, a form of Spina Bifida which literally means “split spine”. Spina Bifida happens when a baby is in the womb and the spinal column does not close all the way. It causes nerve damage and other disabilities that can arise at anytime during your lifetime. Due to the Spina Bifida and issues related to, I had 10 major surgeries by the time I was 15 years old. I was fitted with leg braces when I was 4 years old to assist with walking and started using a crutch to assist with my balance when I was 11, after I had knee surgery and didn’t regain all the strength back in my left leg. By the age of 12 I started using a wheelchair when I discovered the world of disabled sports.

I am the youngest of 5 children and like any other siblings we were very competitive with each other. I was a part of the youth basketball league in the town, played tennis and was also a member of the Cape Cod Swim team. I always had fun but as I grew older and my legs got weaker it was harder for me to keep up with the other kids my age. And as I watched my older siblings go to competitions and bring home medals when I did not, I became more and more discouraged with my being “different”.

After my knee surgery at 11, my parents took me to a Spina Bifida sports and recreation clinic at Massachusetts Hospital School where I was introduced to disabled sports. Here I discovered that after battling my parents for years about it, a wheelchair didn’t mean I was any less capable, it was merely a tool to assist me in getting around. When I was in the wheelchair I was able to fly up and down the basketball and tennis courts and do the things my legs just wouldn’t allow me to do anymore. And having been on the Cape Cod Swim since I was 5 years old, I found myself the fastest one in the pool when competing with other disabled swimmers. From there I went on to compete regionally, nationally and internationally in multiple sports, including tennis, basketball, swimming, track and field, and archery. I medaled in 9 events in the National Junior Championships for each of the 4 years that I attended. When I was 13, I was named the Outstanding Junior Female Athlete in New England and also represented the US in swimming in Scotland where I brought home two gold medals. Using a wheelchair, I was able to join my high school tennis team and compete against my peers that had no disabilities and hold my own on the court. In my junior year of high school I was highlighted on the news as one the rising high school athletes of the week.

After high school, I went off to college and earned a degree in accounting and am currently employed at a major financial institution in Boston as a senior portfolio accountant. I still compete in tennis and basketball, where I am on both a men’s team and women’s team. Participating in disabled sports gave me the confidence to pursue the things that I wanted to do in my life and it has allowed me to highlight all the things that I am capable of doing despite my disability. I have traveled to places that I never would have gone to and met people I never would have met had I not been born with Spina Bifida. When encountering obstacles in life now it is not, ‘I can’t do that’, it is ‘what do I need to get that done.’ It is not about what life has given you, it is about the tools and the drive that you have to get things accomplished.