BAYONNE, New Jersey - Raymond Martin was born with a congenital deformity called Freeman Sheldon Syndrome.
His fingers are permanently bent, his feet are clubbed and his wrists are stiff as wood. These joint deformities restrict his movement.
There are many things this young Fil-Am can’t do, but he has achieved more than most people without disabilities.
Raymond is a rising Paralympic athlete who made the cut to Team U.S.A.’s 2012 Olympic delegation.
He’s been training religiously at a track and field in Bayonne, New Jersey. His mind is set on winning the gold at the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Games in London.
“That’s the goal, hopefully to win all gold. It means a ton because the Paralympic Games, you don’t get any bigger than that, and winning a gold medal for your country just means so much,” said Martin.
Raymond’s long time coach, Jimmy Cuevas said, “He is in tremendous shape. Ray is a hard worker. He listens to the coach’s advice. We’ve been training really hard for the past year and a half.”
Raymond made the cut for the Paralympic trials after dominating the Parapan American Games in Mexico last year, where he beat Mexico’s veteran contender by 100th of a second in a photo-finish 200-meter track race.
Raymond also broke the world record, with a new record of 30.18 seconds in the 200-meter track wheelchair race at the Paralympic trials in Indiana last month
He was recently nominated the “Best Male Athlete with Disability” in ESPN’s 2012 ESPY awards.
Martin said, “It’s a huge deal, it just means that all my hard work is paying off and I’m just really excited about all of it.”
Raymond was in preschool when he learned to race in his wheelchair.
At age 7, he was already competing at the National Junior Disability Championship.
It was a liberating experience, he said, and since then, he has never stopped racing.
Martin said, “Whenever I’m on the track, just going so fast and it’s just freeing, you know, I don’t feel like I have disability, I feel like I’m going 70 miles an hour on the track.”
His folks said Raymond had undergone a total of 17 surgeries and numerous physical therapies since he was a baby — to get him where he is now.
Raymond’s mother, April Martin said, “It was upsetting, but right after that I think it was –OK, What’s the next step? How can we make him functional? How can we make him be able to do things for himself?"
At 18, Raymond is more than happy to answer these questions and set his parents’ minds at ease.
He has finished high school. When he comes back from the Olympics he says he’s moving out of his family home in New Jersey to venture on his own and study at the University of Illinois.
Martin said, “Honestly if someone said, here’s this antidote — we can make you walk, or we can make you perfectly like everybody else, I would not take it, by any means, I just love who I am and love everything about my disabilities.”
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