Jaden's Paraly mpic dream LOWE IT TO MYSELF'

The record-breaking wheelchair racer isn't letting his disability hold him back

- Hayley McLarin

When Jaden Movold had a full neuropsychological examination done as a child, his parents Lise Baldwin and Neil Movold were told he had average potential.

But there's nothing average about this Auckland paraathlete, who farewells his teen years next month with the huge goal of competing in the 2028 Paralympic Games in LA.

Jaden, who has endured 32 major operations after being born with a severe form of spina bifida, looks set to earn a place on the podium, already achieving personal best times that put him in the top 80% of wheelchair competitors.

"I've been told many times that because I have this disability, I can't go out and live my life to the best of my ability," he tells Woman's Day.

"I owe it to myself to do it. I intend to see how far I can go.

"I was deputy head boy of the biggest school in Australasia - Rangitoto College. I got Top Male Academic and Sporting Male of the Year in years 12 and 13. I've done 30 Weetbix Triathlons and got NCEA Level 3 with excellence.

"I want to prove that people with disabilities don't have to sit back and let things come to them just because society tends to view you as helpless.

You can create your own opportunities." Lise and Neil were living in Bermuda when they found out they were pregnant with their second child, a sibling for then-toddler Paige.

But despite feeling like it was a healthy pregnancy, Lise had an ultrasound at 18 weeks that suggested Jaden may have physical challenges.

"They proceeded to tell me he had possible spina bifida," recalls Lise. "We could do an amniocentesis and if we found chromosomal issues, we could book in for a termination.

That's all said to me while I'm sitting with my two-year-old holding my hand.

"The terminology changes when you have a child that is deemed 'not perfect. It almost became 'a foetus with anomalies.