SUSANVILLE — As a young girl, Abby Dunn had one day dreamed to be a gymnast competing at the Olympics.
She was always active growing up. Other than gymnastics, Dunn played soccer and basketball, among other sports.
But when she was 13-years old, Dunn’s world suddenly changed. She was diagnosed with Acute Flaccid Myelitis, an autoimmune disease that causes muscle weakness and possibly paralysis. Three hours after being diagnosed, Dunn was paralyzed from the waist down.
Dunn’s hope to continue playing sports didn’t diminish, however. Now, the 18-year old from Susanville has shined in wheelchair basketball. After four and a half years of being paralyzed, Dunn has locked up a scholarship to play wheelchair basketball for the University of Arizona.
“I just wanted to learn how to play sports in a new way. Even if I couldn’t play soccer or gymnastics anymore. I still wanted to be active,” Dunn said. “That’s what Ability First did for me – taught me how to be active in a wheelchair.”
Eight months after being paralyzed, Dunn found Ability First, a wheelchair sports program and summer camp in Chico.
“She is a complete athlete from her attitude, her competitiveness, her skill level,” said Eric Snedeker, director of Ability First. “She fell in love with using sports as a means to engage and compete again.”
Snedeker has served as the director for 35 years. He’s seen hundreds of kids through Ability First’s weeklong summer camp. But Dunn’s skillset as a basketball player and a waterskier stood out.
“There’s not a lot of kids who excel to that ability that Abby has,” Snedeker said. “She’s a pretty gifted athlete and she’s got great potential in front of her.”
When Dunn first attended Ability First, she said she was nervous.
“I was super nervous but I was super excited,” Dunn said. “I had never been around anybody else in wheelchairs before. I got to learn that other kids have to face the difficulties and challenges too.”
During the camp, the kids stay in the Chico State dorms. Camp councilors are also in wheelchairs providing support and encouragement.
“They were so supportive,” Dunn said.
Snedeker said one of the goals of Ability First to not only help kids continue athletics in college, but to be more active in general.
“The other emphasis is encouraging these kids to go back to their communities and take part in recreational leisure activities,” Snedeker said. “We try to get them all back to their public schools and tell the PE teachers they know how to play tennis now. They don’t need to be excluded from a PE class anymore.”
Dunn landed at the University of Arizona after attending a women’s wheelchair basketball camp at the University of Texas-Arlington. That’s where she made friends who had already committed to play at Arizona.
Like many other programs and organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Ability First’s annual summer camp to go virtual.
Though it was less hands-on, Snedeker said online camp allowed more participants.
“We changed our tactics and opened it up to a much larger population. We could go online now and they could attend larger classes in tennis, fitness, yoga, basketball, dance,” Snedeker said. “Some of it was better than in person because the kids could be at home and focus and not be in 100-degree heat on a tennis court.”
Dunn’s training has also been slowed because of the pandemic.
“COVID has made it really hard. I live in a rural area where there are no other adaptive athletes,” Dunn said. “I have to travel to do things and you can’t do that with COVID. You have to do things on your own.”
Dunn is equipped with three different wheelchairs, one for track and field, another used for basketball and tennis, and her everyday chair. She said that wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Ability First.
“It’s helped me not dwell on an injury and your life is not over just because you’re paralyzed,” Dunn said of Ability First. “You can continue to live your life if you have a disadvantage because you can make your own advantages out of a situation.”
Dunn said her long-term goal is to one day compete at the Paralympics.
“I want to show kids that just because you’re in a wheelchair it doesn’t mean you have to give up a dream,” Dunn said.
