Donovan McBride is your typical teenager. He likes video games, plays a sport and thinks he knows more than his mom.

His sport of choice: track.

His accomplishments: many.

His mode of transportation: a wheelchair.

McBride, 13, has spina bifida, a birth defect where there is incomplete closing of the spinal cord. He has had eight surgeries — one prior to him being born. McBride uses a walker most of the time, but uses the wheelchair for distance and track.

It makes people see him differently than just another teenager. But track is changing that persona.

“I’m at the start and finish lines taking photos and cheering him on,” said Kim McBride, Donovan’s mother. “My favorite thing is that nothing brings smiles to his face more than this has. Watching him, he just lights up.

All the people he’s met and all the opportunities he’s gotten, it’s just awesome.”

And Donovan has noticed that, too: “I finally get recognized for who I am.”

Donovan started racing…>>>

Read the rest of this story in the August 5 issue of the Republic-Times. If you don’t already receive the paper, you can subscribe by calling 939-3814 or clicking here, or pick up a copy at any of these locations.