The most ferocious competitor in American sports today might also be the kindest person in American sports.
Missy Franklin stepped off the plane in Omaha this June with two goals in mind: She wants to torch her way onto the 2016 U.S. Olympic swim team. And she wants to help the friend and NWU alumnus she calls Dr. Mike.
***
Franklin and ophthalmologist Michael Feilmeier (’01) met in March 2015 at an awards ceremony in Nashville, Tenn. The swimmer and the surgeon were two of the U.S. Junior Chamber’s 2015 “Ten Outstanding Young Americans” (TOYA).
Feilmeier was honored for his work restoring sight for patients in developing countries. And Franklin was honored for her prowess in the pool and her philanthropy out of it. Past TOYA winners include JFK, Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Gale Sayers and Elvis Presley.
The 19-year-old Franklin found herself star-struck in Nashville. “I was looking at founders and CEOs and special military agents. And I can’t even pronounce what Dr. Mike is,” she said. “And then there’s, you know, swimmer.”
Franklin dismissed the idea of comparing her accomplishments to theirs. “Hey, guys!” she said, her voice thick with sarcasm. “I can swim and not drown. Pretty cool!”
She had to tell herself, “Instead of looking at the differences between you and the other nine [TOYA winners], try and look at the similarities.” When she did that, she said, “The one thing that really stood out to me was, we’re all doing what we love.”
Franklin and Feilmeier soon discovered that they’re also both big Brad Snyder fans. Snyder is a U.S. Navy lieutenant with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. In September 2011, he was in Afghanistan, working to move two wounded service members. He stepped on an IED, and was badly wounded, himself.
“In that moment, I had thought through everything and had reconciled my death,” he told People magazine. “I thought, ‘I’m OK. I’m OK to pass on.”
Snyder would keep his life, but he lost his vision.
When he first learned about opportunities to compete in adaptive athletics, Snyder was skeptical. “But then I saw an opportunity to prove to my family and my community that I wasn’t going to be a victim.”
One year later, Snyder was in London with Franklin, swimming the 2012 Paralympic Games. Like Franklin, he won multiple gold medals. Eight months later, Franklin, Snyder and Prince Harry of Wales lit the torch at the 2013 Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Snyder and Franklin are partnering again this summer to support Dr. Mike in his global efforts to restore people’s sight. “I know what it’s like to be left in darkness,” Snyder said. “But it brings me great joy to shed light on curable blindness and help others get sight-restoring surgeries.”
Immediately after turning pro, Franklin leveraged $50,000 to help launch Swim for Sight, which supports Feilmeier’s surgeries all over the world. On a recent trip to Harar, Ethiopia, Feilmeier and three other surgeons conducted 950 free, sight-restoring surgeries.
“We personally pay the costs of our travel, our food and our lodging for all of these trips,” said Jessica Feilmeier, Mike’s wife, who works as development director for the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s International Division of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.
“What’s left is our consumable costs for these surgeries, which comes down to just $25 per surgery,” she said.
For every lap Franklin swims in Omaha, Feilmeier is giving sight to another person somewhere on the planet, for free. “I am so excited to support Swim for Sight,” Franklin said. “Swim for Sight has been absolutely incredible in pledging that for every $25 donation they receive, they will give one free sight-restoring surgery to someone in need.”
Feilmeier said, “I am so pleased that Missy and Brad have partnered with us to make Swim for Sight a success. Thanks to their help and the support of the University of Nebraska Medical Center and our Swim for Sight partners, we will be able to help even more patients in developing countries. This surgery will not only improve their quality of life, but in most cases, it will give them their lives back.”
Tariq Orodé was one such patient in Ethiopia. Blind for seven years, she once overheard her daughter praying for her death so that she might focus on her children’s care instead of her mother’s. “I cannot blame her,” Orodé said through an interpreter.
After the procedure, her grandchildren sat on her lap. “I can see them and help them and love them,” she said. “That’s all I wanted when I was blind.”
***
Dr. Mike has kneeled in Ethiopia and pulled the bandages back. He’s been the first thing that hundreds of people have seen. There’s something hot in their reactions. Something burning in their joy. Missy Franklin feels it.
“You’re inspiring other people just by doing what you love,” Franklin said. That same fire, she said, fuels her “as an athlete, as a woman, as a daughter of Christ.” She watches the bandages drop. She sees the joy. And she draws energy.
Franklin said, “I would like to make a promise to you. [I promise] I am nowhere near done.”
She said, “I am so excited to show you not only what I have left in me in the pool, but the philanthropic efforts I can make with the rest of my life. I am 100 percent trusting in God’s plan, and I’m going to do whatever I can to stay on the path that He’s laid for me. And I want to promise you that this is just the beginning for me.”
To Dr. Mike and everyone else out there who stays dedicated to what they love, Franklin said, “You have sparked an incredible flame.”
Competitors, take notice. She said, “I’m just going to let that fire burn.”
###
The full article, "Goals in Sight," will run in the summer issue of Archways Magazine.