Kelly Bruno was only 6 months old when she had her leg amputated below the knee due to a congenital deformity; she had a second major surgery when she was 12 years old to straighten out her residual limb.  The healing process was painful, as was the 2 months on crutches in 7th grade.  The day after the external fixator was removed, she fell and broke her leg at the surgical site - the site that had been allowed to heal over the last 2 months.  Back in the operating room, the orthopedic surgeon implanted a metal plate to hold the bones together to allow it to heal again.  There isn’t a day that Kelly can remember not playing sports.  She started out playing recreational t-ball when she was 5 years old and has been hooked on sports ever since.  Through elementary and middle school she played soccer, baseball, basketball and lacrosse on county and school teams, as well as practicing martial arts.  It was in the beginning of high school that she was introduced to disabled sports at a First Step Clinic.  The day after the clinic ended was the beginning of the National Summer Games, a track and field event for disabled competitors. She entered the 100m, 200m and long jump and finished the events with times that qualified her for the Track and Field World Championships.  All through high school, Kelly filled her schedule with both able-bodied and disabled sports.  She played basketball, and ran track and cross country for her high school; she also competed in disabled track and field competitions during the summer.  She consistently placed in the top 3 in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m events at both national and international competitions.  Kelly’s latest athletic focuses have been road racing cycling and triathlons.  Her long-term goals include qualifying in her able-bodied age group for the Ironman World championships in Hawaii and finishing her first ultra-marathon by 2010.

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