In it for the balance

Lakewood’s Megan Hamlin credits gymnastics with helping her beat leukemia. The quiet 15-year-old will compete at the YMCA National Gymnastics Championships starting today at the Puyallup Fairgrounds.

AMBER KUEHN; The News Tribune

Published: June 27th, 2007 09:09 AM

Some athletes devote their lives to the sports in which they compete. Megan Hamlin owes her life to gymnastics.

The quiet 15-year-old from Lakewood is competing this week at the YMCA National Gymnastics Championships at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. It’s a far cry from where she was five years ago, when, had it not been for staying active in gymnastics, doctors say she could have died.

At age 3, Hamlin began participating in the Lakewood YMCA program and joined the competitive team four years later. When she was just 10, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. But through two years of chemotherapy treatment, in the midst of losing her hair and her strength, Hamlin never stopped competing.

“I’d always done gymnastics,” she said. “I didn’t even think about quitting or anything. That was my life … I couldn’t imagine having life without that.”

Linda Hamlin, Megan’s mother, said there was no convincing her daughter otherwise.

Two weeks later, Hamlin was back in the gym. She competed in beam and floor competitions, but her marks didn’t matter. The important thing was she was still doing what she loved, and keeping her body in the best condition possible.

Hamlin came down with a severe case of chicken pox near the end of her treatment. The illness took over her entire body, eventually landing her in intensive care. She doesn’t remember any of it – not her lips turning blue, not being hooked up to a ventilator, not her heart rate reaching 180 beats per minute for three days straight.

But all of it is fresh in her mother’s mind.

“It was scary,” Linda Hamlin said.

Doctors told Megan’s parents that, had she not been an athlete in pristine condition, her lungs or heart would have given out. After an eight-day stay in the hospital, Hamlin was released, two weeks earlier than doctors expected.

At practice Tuesday, one couldn’t tell from watching Hamlin all that she had been through. Her hair, now grown out, was pulled back into a ponytail, and the smile on her face showed her passion for the sport. As she ran, did back flips and executed her balance-beam performance nearly to perfection, it was obvious she was in her element.

Linda Hamlin smiled as she watched her daughter on the beam. She said previously when Megan was frail, it was often difficult to watch her struggle to do simple things, such as tumble.

Now Hamlin competes in Level 6 gymnastics, a step up from where she was when she was diagnosed. And she just received a letter with exciting news – next year she will be moving up to Level 7, where she will get to choreograph her own routines. It’s a goal she has had for much of her life.

“I’m doing things that I never thought I would be doing,” she said. “Level 7 was one of my big goals in life, so it feels really good. … I’d really like to make it to Level 8, but I don’t plan on doing (gymnastics) after high school. I’ll probably coach.”

Hamlin’s coaches are proud of her. Jackie Bellmer, one of Hamlin’s four coaches, said there wasn’t a dry eye in the place when Hamlin competed when she had leukemia.

“It was pretty inspirational,” Bellmer said. “It would kind of make people tear up.”

Linda Hamlin recalled the first home gymnastics meet her daughter had to miss. Megan was in the hospital for a blood transfusion, but the doctors let her out in time to catch the end of the meet.

“She went out there with her little bald head, and her whole, entire team welcomed her with a big hug,” she said. “I took a picture and then I just went and sat in the corner and cried.

“That’s when I realized that the hospitals can heal her with medicines, but (gymnastics) was what was really healing her.”

Coach Kevin Milliren called Hamlin “a very determined young lady,” adding that her story is a testament to the fact there is more to sports than winning. “They learn life lessons,” he said.

Today, Hamlin is fully recovered. She maintains a 4.0 grade-point average, and hopes to be an elementary teacher someday. This summer she will have her first job, coaching gymnastics clinics for 6- and 7-year-olds at the Lakewood YMCA.

It’s her way of giving back to the sport she believes saved her life.

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