Almost 25 years ago to the date Katie Weymouth made the transition from able body to amputee. She had both feet amputated below the knee and is missing her left knee cap. Katie was three weeks into her freshman year in college in Connecticut and contracted bacterial meningitis.
After visiting home for her moms birthday she returned to school and started feeling unwell. Her mom mentioned she also wasn’t feeling good so she chalked it up to a cold. She took some medicine and went to bed early to sleep it off.
But at 4 o’clock in the morning she couldn’t sleep anymore so she crawled from the top bunk to go get some homework done. As she climbed down she tripped and fell. So much so that her roommate woke up and called the campus hospital to come get her.
While waiting for the doctor and testing she fell asleep and woke up to entire body being covered in purple spots. At this point she could no longer feel her feet, and she was slipping in and out of consciousness. One spinal tap later and it was confirmed that she had bacterial meningitis.
The next two months were grim. She was put into a medically induced coma. During those two months her body was shutting down and the doctors were doing everything they could to keep her alive.
She checked in weighing: 150lbs
She came out of the hospital 8 months 25 days later weighing: 90lbs
Many hours and months of PT and OT later, Katie got back to snowboarding. During her off-season she wanted to make sure she stayed in shape so she working out with a friend and to hold each other accountable.
Katie ended up moving to Texas to complete her PHD and with the lack of snow she started spending most of her free time working out.
However, she later moved to Northern California where she struggled to find someone to help her train. Coaches kept turning her away by saying they didn’t know how to coach someone with her disability.
Finally she posted in an adaptive CrossFit group on Facebook and Kym Dekeyrel came to the rescue. The gym that Dekeyrel recommended was a perfect fit. Katie has been there since 2020 and will be competing this weekend at the CrossFit Games.
You can watch Katie Weymouth compete this weekend at Wheelwod in the Above Knee – Lower Impairment (Female) Division.
WHEELWOD 2024 live stream:
