Each summer, a remarkable group of young Irish athletes travel to the U.S. to participate in one of the most prestigious sporting events of the year, the New York State Physicatty Challenged Games. Irish connections met up with this years winners, and discovered hovv, in more ways than one, these special kids are going for gold.

By Dearbhail McDonald

Dear Bill,

I am writing to thank you and everyone involved in the Irish/American youth team for taking such good care of me. It was a wonderful experience and I had an amazing time.

I met some wonderful people and made some lovely friends, which I hope will he life long friends to me, and even some pen pals like myself and Denise. I hope we remain in contact with each other. And without the hard work from yourself and others, this greet experience would not have heen possible. I only wish that I could get to know the other people involved hetter, so I could have got to know and respect them as much as I do you. But the higgest highlight for me was going to see the dector in Boston and the good news that I received from yourself and the doctor keeps my hope for a cure alive. You are a very kind and down to earth person.

Thank you for all you have done for me and I hope we can meet again sometime, All my love, Deirdre Mellon.

AT SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE, Deirdre Mallon is no ordinary teenager. Deirdre, who comes from Co. Wexford, Ireland, was diagnosed with a rare eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa a progressive condition that will render her completely blind, unless a cure is found.

With the help of the Physically Challenged Irish and American Youth Team, Deirdre traveled from Wexford to Boston and met with specialists who told her that although her eyesight will deteriorate, it would do so sixteen years later than she had expected, increasing her chances of finding a cure and of leading a normal life. This summer, Deirdre was also one of the members of the Irish team who competed at the New York Physically Challenged Games held annually at Long Island, NY. The games, which have been sponsored by the state of New York since 1985, attract over 2,500 physically challenged athletes each year from all parts of the US, Canada and Ireland. Since 1987, hundreds of Irish children with an array of disabilities that include difficult conditions such as Spina Bifida, Cystic Fibrosis, spinal injuries, hearing and sight impairment, burns and amputations have an-ended the games with the assistance of a New York based charity, the Physically Challenged Irish and American Youth Team.

Initially, the small aid organization raised barely enough funds to cover the cost of bringing 10 to 12 young Irish children to the US to compete, but when its founders realized the impact the games had on the children and the potential they had to make a difference in their lives, the charity developed a unique dynamic of its own. Explains one of the team's directors, New York attorney Bill Broderick, "The games have a real significant purpose apart from the obvious. They give these kids tremendous confidence in themselves that they didn't have before they arrived here. Participating gives them a sense of accomplishment that they rarely get to experience in their daily lives. They (the kids) meet other young people with problems even worse than their own, form tremendous friendships and the camaraderie is truly phenomenal. It's a vital kick-start; they come out of their shells. They see that people accept and love them, and so they get another sense of their own worth and that's the key. Enhanced by their new experience, they return home to Ireland with a new found sense of hope and adventure.

"In its infancy, the Irish American youth team struggled to raise the funds required to keep sending young athletes to the games, yet last year the charity raised in excess of $700,000 and their initial goals have expanded into something that surpasses the annual games alone. In addition to sponsorship of the games, the youth team donates crucial funds to as many as 35 smaller, less known organizations across Ireland and in the United States. These are the type of charities that are struggling to make ends meet in small towns and areas where it is difficult to raise the kind of money needed to successfully make a difference, but these are the very communities where something basic can make a tremendous impact.

Small, rural communities like Ardglass in Co. Down, N. Ireland where the youth team has recently furnished one young disabled person with an electric wheelchair and specialized bed to help him and his family cope with his disability. The family alone could not raise the money to meet the costs, so the youth team stepped in to help this family and others and customarily provides wheelchairs, prosthetic devices and therapy for the most needy of Irish children. Not only does the charity provide financial grants to these grassroots organizations; it has also established a program to bring children with particular medical needs that cannot be met in Ireland to receive special medical treatment from doctors in the US.One of the stars of the youth team is a fifteen-year-old girl fi·om Clonakilty, Co. Cork, Ireland. It is hard to single out individuals when everyone is a winner, but when this year's team met for a gala going home luncheon at the Mutual of America headquarters on Park Avenue, New York, Denise Lehane emerged as the true symbol of hope that the charity embodies. At the age of just nine months, Denise sustained severe burns to her hands and face as the result of an accident on the farm where she and her family live. The injuries she sustained were horrific, leaving her disfigured, and the type of corrective surgery and treatment she required were beyond her reach and expectations. When all medical and cosmetic possibilities had been exhausted in her native Ireland, her parents had all but resolved to accept the hand of fate that their daughter had been dealt in life. But when Bill Broderick met Denise, he was so moved by her story and her courage that he refused to accept that there were no other options. Traditionally, the youth team raises funds to sponsor the kids' medical bills when they are receiving medical treatment in the US and covers the travel and hotel expenses of the parents. In Denise's case, not even the foundation could afford to meet her medical costs because of the intricate nature of her burns, it was then that the foundation enlisted the help of one of New York's most renowned plastic surgeons, Dr. Norman Bakshandeh of Long Island College Hospital, who took Denise under his care at no cost to the charity or her family.

"For Dr. Bakshandeh, one of the most renowned physicians in his field to waive his fees and commit to Denise for over a five-year period is really quite remarkable. It is an outstanding contribution, especially as he had no idea of what he had taken on until he met Denise in person and saw her condition for himself and we, like Denise, are indebted to him." Denise was also one of the participants at this year's games, and the proud owner of a collection of medals to prove it. In New York, the athletes, many of whom have not traveled outside their own regions, were received by a host of local Irish and American business groups. Dining out everyday, they were transported around the city sights by offduty members of the NYPD who donated their services to the kids during their stay. Even the FBI joined in the spirit of the games, treating the group to an outdoor picnic where the kids enjoyed helicopter rides and worked close at hand with the dogs that assist the agency's prestigious drug squad. In turn, each July, over 20 children from the United States spend two weeks in Ireland competing in the counterpart Dublin Games.

For both exchanges to Ireland and the US, the youth team has a strict no parent rule; the children travel chaperoned by the charity The rule reinforces the fact that there are not one, but two beneficiaries of the charity, the parents as well as the kids.

"One of things that you observe is that as the kids get older and more mature, they begin to realize the extent of their disabilities. Then, their dream becomes not just acceptance, but independence. They want to be able to live on their own, and they are quite articulate about that. They tell us I've gotta get out there on my own. But it is just as important to send the message to the parents that their kids can move on without them. It may sound simple, but that is an enormous part of what we do. We have encountered more parents at the airport who are crying, scared and terrified, watching their children board the plane to America without them. It is important for them to understand the process of having to let go, and being able to do so."

The message that the youth team transmits is a positive one, a focus on ability and not disability, what they can do, not what they cannot. These children are disabled, and are reminded of that fact everyday of their lives in the challenges that they face and the hardships they endure, but the youth team gives them the motivation they need to get on in life in spite of their disabilities. That is why the charity also established a college scholarship program for American children. This coming year, the organization will have fifteen children attending college in America at an approximate total of over $100,000 in financial assistance to the students. Already, the youth team has saluted its first college graduates:

"One of the reasons why we give college scholarships is because education is a great equalizer. They may not be able to run or jump, but they can think. By giving them this chance we are allowing them to fully compete and to lead meaningful, happy lives."

Virtue, they say, is its own reward, and that certainly rings true for Bill Broderick and the dedicated corps of loyal supporters on both sides of the Atlantic who work relentlessly to make a difference in the lives of the hundreds of children and their families who have been thrown a critical lifeline by the charity. The charity has received a lot of help from leading figures including Nobel Peace winner John Hume, former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, musician Phil Coulter, businessman John Sharkey and the legendary Irish athlete Eamonn Coghlan.

Mutual of America's Bill Flynn will be this year's honoree at the youth team's annual dinner to be held on November 30 in New York City. Last year, over $500,000 was raised in a single evening. New York City Police Officer Steven McDonald, former Governor Hugh Carey and current governor George Pataki and his family have also lent their support to the organization.

"We really have wonderful people supporting us, and our donations come from people from all walks of life. In fact, our biggest contributors are people of non-Irish heritages. Thankfully for us, there are good people everywhere.

Thankfully, there are indeed good people everywhere, dedicated individuals like Bill Broderick - the attorney who admits that he is gradually spending more and more time raising money for his kids than in the law library. But he has no regrets; letters like the one he received from Deirdre Mallon leave him in no doubt as to what may ultimately be his true calling in life.

"That letter speaks for itself. Deirdre was told she would be blind, that there was no hope. Now she has hope, and that brings tears to my eyes, that's why we do what we do.

Broderick has far-reaching ambitions for the youth team. Eventually he would like to establish a full facility camp, which would bring perhaps 250 kids from Ireland instead of 20 to the US each year. He would also like to extend the range and number of medical treatments that the youth team could provide to more and more needy children. It is a mission that requires increased corporate funding, but already Broderick feels that the charity is on the verge of something big.

"We need to bring more kids, and I know I can do this" trailing off, he adds; "..I just need to spend more time..

Rushing back to his firm after lunch, I am conscious of the fact that time is a priceless commodity for most New York attorneys, but one suspects that Bill Broderick will nonetheless fulfill his dream to reach out to as many kids as he can. He will find the time, because he'll make the time, a