BUFFALO, N.Y. — In 1992, when Adam Page was born with spina bifida, his parents Norm and Sandy agreed they would never let his disabilities hold him back.
"We're going to find anything we can to give him the opportunities like any other kid," Norm said.
So when Adam showed an interest in hockey, his parents got him into sled hockey, and it changed their lives forever.
"Anything I wanted to do they were supporting me, so it was awesome," Adam said.
Adam went on to earn a gold medal with Team USA in the Paralympics in 2010, 2014 and 2018.
"Seeing them put the medal around his neck and hear the anthem playing, it was pretty powerful and something we'll never forget," Norm said.
Norm volunteered with USA Hockey for 12 years as the National Sled Hockey representative, and Adam traveled across the country with him to mentor other sled hockey athletes. But they wanted to give back to Western New York and start a local chapter.
"So we brought it home. We started the Sled Hockey Foundation in 2015 with the idea of helping veterans and youth and adults with disabilities the opportunity to play hockey," Norm said.
It quickly evolved when Adam asked his dad if they could start a wheelchair lacrosse league.
"There's no 'no' in his answers," Adam said. 'It's always 'yes, how can we do this.'"
"We jumped in with no money and bought $25,000 worth of wheelchairs to make sure we had these chairs to make sure our athletes could participate in lacrosse."
And in 2019 they changed the name from the WNY Sled Hockey Foundation to Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports. With Norm's leadership over a team of dedicated volunteers and donations from the community, they've been able to add wheelchair curling, football, tennis and soon corn-hole.
All of it, helping people living with disabilities to find their purpose.
"We've been blessed. We've been given so much in our life and Adam's life and we should be giving back. We know how much it's helped us and Adam, so it's really about helping others get that same opportunity," Norm said.
To find out more about Greater Buffalo Adaptive Sports, click here.
To nominate a person to be featured in the "Selfless Among Us" series, email details to Melissa.Holmes@wgrz.com
To see others featured in the Selfless Among Us series, click the videos below.
