Swimmer dreams of gold and a life that was

Expect more of the same from Mallory Weggemann at the USA Swimming Grand Prix starting Friday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. More records shattered. More of that dazzling smile. More tears shed by her proud family and friends.

Since May, Weggemann has set three world and nearly a dozen American records, including shaving 27 seconds off the 200-yard butterfly at a club meet. In two weeks, she's off to Brazil for the Short Course World Championships. She dreams of Gold in 2012.

But every inspiring tale carries a heavier undercurrent, and this is hers: "I love what I'm doing," said Weggemann, 20, who felt "a little sore" during her second training session of the day Tuesday with veteran U coach Jim Andersen. "But I'd take my legs back any day."

In January 2008, Weggemann received the third in a series of epidural injections in her back to treat pain from a previous shingles outbreak. She lost all feeling and movement from the waist down.

Feeling will be back by morning, the doctors told her. Then it was "a couple of days," which shifted to "by the time you leave the hospital." She left the hospital five weeks later in a wheelchair. Eventually her mother, Ann, a nurse at Children's of St. Paul, told her 18-year-old daughter:

"At some point, you just have to live your life."

In April 2008, Weggemann was back in the water, but not on her terms. It was for physical therapy.

"The pool reminded me of something I once loved so much," said Weggeman, who began swimming at 7 and swam varsity at Eagan High School before graduating in 2007. "I was wheeled down, I was white-knuckled. I've never been afraid of the water. I couldn't stand. I was in tears."

But she kept at it. That same month, her older sister, Christin, suggested that they attend the Paralympic Swim Trials for the Beijing Olympics, being held at the U. Seeing these athletes, some amputees, others challenged by cerebral palsy, changed everything. Weggemann has been swimming and breaking records ever since.

In March, she made the U.S. Paralympic National Swimming Team, a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee. She is the 2009 USA Swimming Disabled Athlete of the Year.

This weekend, she'll be one of five competitors with disabilities in a field of nearly 600 "able-bodied swimmers." It is the first national-level USA Swimming event where swimmers with disabilities will have their own heat at finals.

"Swimming has enabled Mallory to find an avenue to excel," Andersen said. He sees in Weggemann both elements essential for an elite-level athlete: physical ability and emotional fortitude. "It's, I'm going to do this and make the sacrifices necessary."

"Mallory is stubborn," added her dad, Chris Weggemann. "Part of that stubbornness is what's giving her the will to do this."

She works out twice a day, fits in 30 minutes of daily core work and carries a full course load at the U, planning for a marketing and public relations major. The workouts, plus using a wheelchair, have dramatically changed Weggemann's body shape. As a high school swimmer, she said with a laugh, "I was tall, lanky and all kick." Her once twig-thin arms are toned and muscular to pull her body through the water. Swimming isn't just therapeutic for her.

"My swimming, and the opportunities that come with it, have really helped the whole family move forward."

Her father is a runner and hiker who has ascended Mount Ranier and Mount McKinley, but stopped when Mallory was paralyzed. "The fun of it went away," Chris said. Already a workaholic environmental consultant, he turned it up.

"I ran on overdrive," he said. When he wasn't at work, he was removing barriers for Mallory at home. He modified a half bath downstairs and replaced the downstairs carpeting with hardwood floors. He's starting to run again.

"We're doing well, but Mallory's paralysis is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about when I go to sleep," he said. "I don't know if it will ever go away."

Her sisters are coping, too. Jessica, 24, will be married next June. "She'll never say it, but she wants an outdoor wedding and I can't wheel onto grass," Mallory said. An accessible venue was chosen without any words spoken. Ann, their mother, worries when she sees Mallory crawl upstairs to take a shower, or relearn how to drive. "We're reliving letting go," Ann said.

Weggemann keeps a private journal for darker moments, but her blog hints at the challenges. "I was in my room upstairs tonight and I saw my posters from swim seasons with my goals and pictures," she writes, "and it just tore me apart to see it all."

"The reality is that not every day is going to be a great day," she said. "Yeah, I'm doing awesome things, but I've worked very hard every day to overcome my struggles and get where I am."

And to prepare for where she's going.

"I want to be on the podium in 2012 [in London] and hear our national anthem playing and I want to take home a gold medal."

Gail Rosenblum • 612-673-7350 gail.rosenblum@startribune.com