{"id":263848,"date":"2022-03-07T14:45:38","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T20:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=263848"},"modified":"2022-03-08T10:51:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T16:51:40","slug":"woman-down-syndrome-austin-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-austin-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"This woman is the first person with Down syndrome to complete the Austin Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kayleigh Williamson, 32, made history on February 20, 2022, when she became the first person with Down syndrome to complete the Ascension Seton Austin Marathon. She completed the 26.2-mile race in 6 hours, 43 minutes, and 51 seconds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This wasn\u2019t Kayleigh\u2019s first history-making race. In 2017, she was the first person with Down syndrome to finish the\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Austin Half Marathon<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Completing a marathon has been a dream of Kayleigh\u2019s for many years but the journey hasn\u2019t been easy. &#8220;The moment she was born, I was told everything she couldn&#8217;t do,&#8221; <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">her mother, Sandy Williamson told local station <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kvue.com\/article\/features\/austin-marathon-kayleigh-williamson-makes-history-down-syndrome\/269-4daf174b-b071-490b-a221-0edb92bd9710\">KVUE<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 1px solid #e6e6e6;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kvue.com\/embeds\/video\/269-90ec6243-a8ed-47b6-82c3-55084a461696\/iframe\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt was actually the next morning, they came in and said, &#8216;Well, we think there&#8217;s a slight problem.&#8217; The doctor said, &#8216;We think she&#8217;s slightly\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Down syndrome<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.'&#8221; Sandy was also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/spectrumlocalnews.com\/tx\/south-texas-el-paso\/news\/2021\/01\/10\/texas-runner-with-down-syndrome-defies-the-odds\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">encouraged<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to either place her daughter with an adoptive family or send her to an institution in Baton Rouge. Neither suggestion was an option for her, and she wanted nothing more than to bring Kayleigh home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The two faced many difficulties throughout Kayleigh\u2019s childhood. They were abandoned by Kayleigh\u2019s father, were on welfare for several years, and dealt with bullying.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ:<\/strong>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/north-macedonian-president-walks-girl-syndrome-school-bullied\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>North Macedonian president walks girl with Down syndrome to school after she was bullied<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;In 2008, Kayleigh was diagnosed with ITP \u2013 low blood platelets \u2013 and we didn&#8217;t know why. Then she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and then hyperthyroidism. She was 215 pounds, she had sleep apnea, she was pre-diabetic,&#8221; Sandy said. Kayleigh was also diagnosed with Graves&#8217; Disease.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kayleigh\u2019s grandmother also endured serious health issues, encouraging Sandy to make some changes for herself and her daughter. They began going on walks but eventually turned to running. Due to weight loss and exercise, Kayleigh is no longer pre-diabetic, her Graves&#8217; disease went into remission, and sleep apnea is no longer an issue for her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The mother-daughter duo has since completed 15 half-marathons together, and now one full marathon. Sandy is always there beside her daughter, every step of the way. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want her to see me sitting on the sidelines saying, &#8216;Go, go, go.&#8217; I want her to see me actively with her,&#8221; Sandy said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kayleigh has also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/runningforreal.com\/kayleigh-williamson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">written<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a children\u2019s book, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Its-Cool-Be-Kayleigh-Williamson\/dp\/0998811580\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s Cool To Be Me<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,&#8221;<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0that allows young readers to follow her as she runs a half marathon. Her book is proof this young lady can do anything she puts her mind to.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI never doubted she could finish the races,\u201d Sandy <a href=\"https:\/\/spectrumlocalnews.com\/tx\/south-texas-el-paso\/news\/2021\/01\/10\/texas-runner-with-down-syndrome-defies-the-odds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">s<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spectrumlocalnews.com\/tx\/south-texas-el-paso\/news\/2021\/01\/10\/texas-runner-with-down-syndrome-defies-the-odds\">aid<\/a>.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cI don\u2019t believe that our circumstances should dictate who we become. I think our circumstances are a part of who we become. And the true testimony of who you are, and your character, is what you take of those circumstances and make yourself out of.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveactionnewsonline\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kayleigh Williamson, 32, made history on February 20, 2022, when she became the first person with Down syndrome to complete the Ascension Seton Austin Marathon. She completed the 26.2-mile race in 6 hours, 43 minutes, and 51 seconds.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t Kayleigh\u2019s first history-making race. In 2017, she was the first person with Down syndrome to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":820,"featured_media":263877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455,3473],"tags":[16130,429,16131,16132,16133],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Woman is first with Down syndrome to complete the Austin Marathon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kayleigh Williamson, 32, made history on February 20 when she became the first person with Down syndrome to complete the Ascension Seton Austin Marathon.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-austin-marathon\/\" \/>\n<meta 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