BRANDON ZIMMERMAN Jackson Hole News & Guide | Posted: Friday, October 31, 2008 12:00 am
JACKSON - Eight-year-old children aren't supposed to make life-changing decisions. Kira Brazinski knows differently.
The 16-year-old made a decision during the third grade that would alter her life forever. She decided to have her left leg amputated.
"She came up to me and said, 'Mom, I want my foot cut off, and I want it as soon as possible,"' Kathie Brazinski said.
Kira Brazinski was born with a rare, nonhereditary birth defect called proximal femoral focal deficiency. It's characterized by the shortening of a leg bone, typically the femur, and the absence of a kneecap.
John and Kathie Brazinski gave their daughter the choice to live with the shortened leg or have it amputated and get a prosthetic leg.
There is no question she made the right decision. Now a junior at Jackson Hole High School, Kira Brazinski is an emerging contributor for the Broncs swim team, which is competing at this weekend's Class 4A/3A Girls Wyoming State High School Swimming and Diving Championships in Gillette. Brazinski didn't qualify for state, but her story is inspirational nonetheless.
With just one leg, she swims at an obvious disadvantage but compensates with a strong upper body and determination that has motivated her teammates, coaches and opponents.
"She just has an awesome attitude," coach Debbie Iobst said. "If you could coach a whole team of Kiras, it would just be great. She's truly been an inspiration."
John and Kathie Brazinski had no warning their daughter would be born with a partial left leg.
"When she was born, it was a total shock," Kathie Brazinski said. "There's nothing that can prepare you for that. But right after the day she was born and I found out what she had, I researched, researched, researched."
Brazinski and her husband decided that ultimately their child should make the choice about what to do about her leg.
"She was a bright girl," Brazinski said. "I realized early on that she knew what we were talking about."
Kira Brazinski was always self-aware. At the age of 2, she asked her mother when her leg was going to grow out.
"It doesn't," her mother told her. "Your leg is different."
Brazinski's options were simple. She could leave the leg as is, undergo a rotationplasty - a procedure in which the limb could be salvaged by surgically transforming the ankle into a knee joint - or have the leg amputated and live with a prosthetic limb.
At first, Brazinski was hesitant to have her leg amputated.
"I remember thinking I wasn't going to do anything with it," she said. "I was scared."
One day, she changed her mind. Her thinking was pretty logical, actually. At least for a preteen.
"I remember I just wanted to be able to wear cool jeans," she said.
Her parents gained strength through their daughter's courage.
"She went into the operating room with a smile on her face," Kathie Brazinski said. "What 8-year-old does that?"
Looking back, Kathie Brazinski is convinced her daughter made the right decision. She said many patients who have the rotationplasty experience problems later in life.
"This was a much simpler choice," Kathie Brazinski said. "Ultimately, in the early parts of her life, she was going to live with this. I wasn't going to make the decision for her."
Kira Brazinski wasn't done impressing. She stunned her doctors by learning to walk with a prosthetic leg faster than expected.
"She's quite the athlete," her mother said. "That helps. She's so athletic it helps her."
Still, it would be six more years before Brazinski would take that athleticism to the pool.
Excelling at sports
Her swim lessons were going well at the Teton County/Jackson Recreation Center. She was just 4 at the time but comfortable in the water.
However, a harmless prank pulled by her older brother, Cole, scared her out of the water. The 9-year-old told his 4-year-old sister there were sharks in the pool. Naturally, the impressionable little girl believed him.
"I was terrified of the big pool," she said. "I really thought there were sharks in the water."
She had begun skiing at age of 3 - with one ski - and turned her focus to the winter sport. Very soon she was out-skiing her parents.
"She's a better skier than I am," Kathie Brazinski said. "She couldn't snowplow, because she was skiing on one leg. So right from the get-go, she learned her edges."
Kira Brazinski was so comfortable skiing on one leg that she was featured in the 2007 PBS documentary "Heroes of the Slope," a ski film produced to raise awareness of the athletic abilities of disabled people.
However, she hasn't seen as much of the slopes lately. She recently developed plantar fasciitus, an inflammatory condition on the arch of the foot caused by overuse. That forced her to cut back on skiing.
Fortunately for Brazinski, two influential people in her life would help her fall in love with a new sport.
Jim Jenkins has a simple philosophy: He invites every student to come out for the Jackson Hole swim team. Brazinski was no exception.
Jenkins, the Broncs' assistant coach, had already formed a bond with Brazinski. He was her physical education teacher her freshman year.
The summer before Brazinski's sophomore year, Jenkins tried to talk her into joining the team. She decided to do it when Allison Flickinger, her best friend, signed up.
"The first day I got into the pool," she said, "it felt so good."
Brazinski just completed her second season on the swim team. While she didn't qualify for state, she showed marked improvement throughout the season, improving her time in the 100 butterfly from 1 minute, 50.8 seconds to 1:38.40. Along the way, she has inspired opponents throughout the state.
"At the swim meets, they are like, 'That's cool that you are swimming,"' she said. "Everyone supports me. They wish me luck and stuff. That's really cool."
Brazinski plans on swimming for the local club team, the Sting Rays, this winter in hopes of improving her skills for next season.
Her teammates have found her to be a source of inspiration.
"She definitely gives a positive image of, 'don't give up,"' teammate Cummings Rork said. "Just because you're at a disadvantage, doesn't mean you can't do something."