Article from AZ Central - October 2010:
Everything you need to know about Joe Underwood is summarized quite effectively by Joe himself: "Just because I'm in a wheelchair, I still find a way to do anything people tell me I can't do."
It's a mantra by which the 14-year-old Desert Vista High School freshman lives every day of his life. Despite living with spina bifida - a birth defect where the spinal cord doesn't form properly - Joe is an active teen who competes as a swimmer (he even completed the 1.4-mile Alcatraz swim) and on the court in a wheelchair basketball league.
Joe's legs are paralyzed from the condition and by age 8 he had already endured 11 surgeries to alleviate some of the symptoms caused by the spina bifida.
"I feel like every swimmer has some sort of setback," says Joe's swimming coach Megan Harden. "Every swimmer - whether they're abled or disabled - and he can't use his legs."
But that hasn't kept Joe from excelling in his sports of choice. In the swimming pool, Joe has qualified for and is competing at the U.S. and CanAm Paralympic swim meets for the honor of representing the United States at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. On the basketball court, Joe has started every game for the Junior Wheelchair Suns basketball team since he was 11.
He takes care of business in the classroom, where Joe maintains a 3.5 grade point average, and also makes a point to mentor other kids with paraplegia. THAT IS WHY HE IS THE COMEBACK STUDENT ATHLETE OF THE WEEK!
