{"id":32431,"date":"2012-12-07T09:02:21","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T14:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=32431"},"modified":"2012-12-08T07:20:49","modified_gmt":"2012-12-08T12:20:49","slug":"blind-cross-country-runner-inspires-van-wert-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2012\/12\/07\/blind-cross-country-runner-inspires-van-wert-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Blind runner inspires Van Wert students"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sami Stoner smiles as Van Wert Elementary School fifth-graders pet her guide dog, Chloe. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

High School cross country runner Sami Stoner was at Van Wert Elementary School on Thursday to tell her inspiring story to fourth- and fifth-graders there.<\/p>\n

The fact that Sami is a runner is not all that inspiring in itself. In fact, the Lexington High School senior doesn\u2019t even compete on the varsity team, but is a junior varsity runner. What\u2019s inspiring about Sami is that she runs the 5,0000-meter cross country courses alongside her guide dog, Chloe.<\/p>\n

You see, Sami is legally blind.<\/p>\n

The young girl began losing her eyesight to a disorder called Stargardt Disease, a form of macular degeneration, when she was in the eighth grade. Today, she has only some peripheral vision remaining, but not enough to allow her to drive a car, although she can read if the text is big enough. It also makes it a bit tougher to get around for school in the morning, she shared with local students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just have to hope my makeup isn\u2019t smeared all over my face,\u201d she said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

The disease also doesn\u2019t stop her from running, something she learned to love as a middle school student and still does nearly every day.<\/p>\n

Sami also continued to compete in cross country, first with the aid of a friend who guided her through each course, but now with Chloe, a golden retriever she received from Pilot Dogs Inc. of Columbus — although the Ohio High School Athletic Association first had to change its rule banning guide dogs from athletic competition.<\/p>\n

Although she told local students that, in 8-10 years, Chloe will have to retire as her guide dog, that doesn\u2019t mean golden retriever won\u2019t still be part of the Stoner family. \u201cI don\u2019t think at this point that I could give her up,\u201d Sami said. \u201cI absolutely love her.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s readily apparent to everyone, since Stoner even talks in the second person \u201cwe\u201d that includes Chloe when talking about her experiences. Both \u201cgirls\u201d were named homecoming queen this year at her high school, which was an unexpected thrill for the modest and unselfish Stoner.<\/p>\n

One thing you won\u2019t hear coming from the young girl\u2019s mouth is self-pity — or even regrets that she has lost most of her eyesight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never change the experience; I\u2019d never want to give the experience up,\u201d she told the students, adding that losing her eyesight has changed her life for the better. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work, but it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Sami\u2019s handicap isn\u2019t really much of one to her, since she doesn\u2019t let anything get in the way of what she wants to do, and that was also her advice to Van Wert students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you guys like, whatever your passion is, really just follow it and don\u2019t let things stop you and hold you back,\u201d she told the students. \u201cEven if you have a problem or an issue, there\u2019s always a way around it and you can do what you want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduation, Sami said she plans to attend Otterbein University in Westerville, a suburb of Columbus, and will \u201cprobably\u201d major in psychology. While there, she would also like to run cross country, if possible.<\/p>\n

Her independent \u201ccan do\u201d attitude surfaced again when a teacher asked if there was an NCAA rule against using a guide dog to run cross country in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess if there is, we\u2019ll change that, too,\u201d Stoner said with a confident smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor High School cross country runner Sami Stoner was at Van Wert Elementary School on Thursday to tell her inspiring story to fourth- and fifth-graders there. The fact that Sami is a runner is not all that inspiring in itself. In fact, the Lexington High School senior doesn\u2019t even compete on the varsity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 03:13:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}