Girl Faces Downhill Battle…Not!

By Sarah Layden Staff Writer, Syracuse Post-Standard

A few of Katie Rosenberg's classmates skied alongside her Friday at Toggenburg Ski Center in Fabius, while others waited for her at the bottom of the hill.

They provided the words Katie lacked to describe her first ski run. "Way to go Katie!" they cheered. "It was cool!"

Katie, a fifth grader at Fabius-Pompey Elementary School, participated with the rest of her classmates at the school's annual fifth grade ski day. Katie was born with a cyst that took away a quarter of her brain. She communicates her wants and needs with a few single word messages, and uses a walker and wheelchair.

Her mother, Jennifer, waited nervously for her daughter to complete the first run. As soon as she caught sight of Katie coming down the hill, she exhaled.

"I see her clapping, so she must like it," she said.

With the help of ARISE and Ski, a program at Toggenburg that helps disabled people ski using special equipment and volunteers, Katie zoomed down the slope. She was strapped into a fiberglass bucket seat atop two skis, and ARISE volunteer Melissa Glisson controlled the run from behind with tethered straps.

"She was leaning into the turns, which was great," Glisson said.

A birth defect called holoprosencepahly took away part of Katie's brain, but not her determination, her mother said. Doctors thought that she would not surpass a 6-month-old's learning level.

"She wouldn't be where she is today without determination," her mother said.

Katie clapped, grinned and pulled down the scarf covering her mouth to blow kisses to the crown surrounding her. She ended up skiing three runs Friday.

"I knew she would like it a lot," said Kristen Aiken, 11, Katie's best friend. Kristen encouraged Katie as she skied alongside her down the mountain.

"I feel really happy for her," she said.

"Katie loves swimming and four wheeling when the weather allows, but winter previously left her without an activity," Jennifer Rosenberg said. Rosenberg's initial anxiety about both safety and Katie's response to skiing abated her first run.

"It's wonderful to find one more thing she enjoys," she said. "I wanted her to be part of the class."

Katie won last year's class citizenship award, Rosenberg said.

"Everybody at Fabius-Pompey has been wonderful," she said. "It was never an 'Oh no, can Katie do this?' It was 'Katie will do this and we will figure out a way.'"

Because Katie is 13, she is "aging out" of elementary school. Rosenberg hopes to find another facility or school like F-P for her daughter.

Rosenberg said Mary Ann Wilson, Katie's school aide, is like a second mother to Katie. Wilson shot video and pictures of Katie on the ski lift, coming down the hill, and the mass congratulations that followed.

This is the fourth annual ski day for F-P fifth graders, physical education teacher Cindy Ward said. This year 95 pupils participated, and about 50 parents chaperoned. Skiing fits into the life skills unit that Ward teaches.

"One thing about living in the country, there isn't anything else to do," Ward said. "If you don't snowmobile or ski, you sit at home."

"It's a wonderful program," she said. "I'm hoping that after this, Katie will be able to go on and do this again."

When asked whether she had fun, Katie smiled, clapped again and gave a quick sigh.

"That means 'Yes,'" her mother said.

Words were hardly needed.

ARISE and Ski Program

For information on next winter's program or for information on ARISE's year-round adaptive horseback riding program, call ARISE at the farm at (315) 687-6727.