Jenna Lambert

By any standard, the ability to swim thirty-two Kilometers, in waves as high as six feet and winds blowing as hard as twenty-six Kilometers per hour would be considered a miracle of biblical proportions. Now imagine attempting such a swim without the use of your legs. On July 18th and 19th, 2006, fifteen year old, Harrowsmith, Ontario native Jenna Lambert did just that.

She commenced her swim at Baird Point New York and arrived 32 hours later at Lake Ontario Park in Kingston Ontario. She was met by the cheers of hundreds of supporters. Lambert’s swim puts her in the record books as the first female with a physical disability to swim across Lake Ontario.

Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at a year and a half, Lambert walks with the aid of crutches and has had numerous surgeries to help with mobility issues. However, like many determined people with disabilities, she compensates for her limitations by demonstrating extraordinary strength in other areas. One arena where Jenna Lambert proves her strength literally, is in the water.

In May 2006, Lambert did a 12 hour pool swim that convinced her that she could do the Lake Ontario crossing. In July 2006, she swam 10 kilometers in 5 hours. Lambert’s coach and Master Encourager, marathon swimmer Vicki Keith, puts her protégé's resilience into perspective saying, "She has to make adjustments in her strokes in order to compensate for the lack of mobility in her legs. She has to over rotate her body, so she is working much harder than most people, but she doesn’t know anything different, that is how she swims."

Lambert faced additional challenges in the waters of Lake Ontario. It was against the rules for setting the record, to lean against anything during her swim. Therefore, she had to tread water with one hand and consume granola pieces, fruit cups and boost drinks with the other. At times when high winds and waves were against her and her arms barely came out of the water, she was inspired by her sister Natalie who swam beside her for two hours.

Waves and wind were so bad at times that attempts were made to redirect the swim to make it shorter. But Lambert wouldn’t have it. She approached the shores of Lake Ontario doing the butterfly stroke, showing supporters that she still had something left.

Jenna’s swim however was not about breaking records, but raising money for a new pool for "the Penguins," Jenna and Natalie’s swim team at the Kingston Ontario YMCA, comprised of young people with disabilities and their siblings.

Says Jenna, it was about, "providing freedom for kids with disabilities and proving that with God’s help, nothing is impossible."

- Terry Harris

Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy when he was two years old, Terry Harris in the opinion of many experts within the medical and education professions, would never walk, talk, read, write or go to a regular school. It was recommended to his parents that he beplaced in an institution. In 1995 Terry graduated from Brock University with a B.A. in English Literature and obtained a degree in marriage and family therapy in 1999 from Tyndale Seminary.