Mikey Brannigan is trying to raise $15k so he can go to the Paralympics - Donate here

nznn wrote:

Listen, I'm flying across the Atlantic every other week. Promise you, you don't know what you're talking about.

-Flights are available for 838-1000 USD this very moment.

-Just found an entire loft for 24 usd per night, another flat 70/night. both 2-4km from Olympic Stadium. I count 50+ hotels from 38-150 USD per night in a 5km radio.

Nothing against Mikey. Just curious as to what they plan on doing with this money. Flying first class? Staying in a king room? Pocketing 5k?

Why does it matter to you? To those who chipped in it seems reasonable.

Please stop hijacking the thread.

From this report about the personal care assistant of this para olympic swimmer it seems it isn't about the $$$, it is about not allowing extra people to travel with the team to Tokyo. So, even if Mike raises the $15K his support person won't be allowed to travel anyway.

https://www.msnbc.com/stephanie-ruhle/watch/deaf-blind-paralympian-becca-meyers-heartbroken-to-leave-team-usa-after-being-denied-care-assistant-117191237560

I get it why the Olympics are moving ahead (money) but can someone explain why the Paralympics have not been canceled? I get it that they do a lot of good but they also are an enormous money pit that nobody watches. Why would Japan take on all of the addition COVID risks for an event that nobody outside of a handful of people worldwide cares about?

UltraDude wrote:

From this report about the personal care assistant of this para olympic swimmer it seems it isn't about the $$$, it is about not allowing extra people to travel with the team to Tokyo. So, even if Mike raises the $15K his support person won't be allowed to travel anyway.

https://www.msnbc.com/stephanie-ruhle/watch/deaf-blind-paralympian-becca-meyers-heartbroken-to-leave-team-usa-after-being-denied-care-assistant-117191237560

I am surprised it took that long before someone brought up the no personal care assistant policy by Tokyo. That policy could end up being the one that has the greatest impact and most negative publicity long term.

Ben Shiller wrote:

I get it why the Olympics are moving ahead (money) but can someone explain why the Paralympics have not been canceled? I get it that they do a lot of good but they also are an enormous money pit that nobody watches. Why would Japan take on all of the addition COVID risks for an event that nobody outside of a handful of people worldwide cares about?

It would be bad public relations and may cost Tokyo even more money. The cities host the Olympic for the prestige with the very real risk of loosing hundreds of millions if not billions even without a pandemic. The Paralympics provides more good PR without looking like a money grab. I suspect cancelling the Paralympics would results in additional loses due to contract requirements just like cancelling the Olympics would mean additional loses in the billions.

Please Stop wrote:

UltraDude wrote:

From this report about the personal care assistant of this para olympic swimmer it seems it isn't about the $$$, it is about not allowing extra people to travel with the team to Tokyo. So, even if Mike raises the $15K his support person won't be allowed to travel anyway.

https://www.msnbc.com/stephanie-ruhle/watch/deaf-blind-paralympian-becca-meyers-heartbroken-to-leave-team-usa-after-being-denied-care-assistant-117191237560

I am surprised it took that long before someone brought up the no personal care assistant policy by Tokyo. That policy could end up being the one that has the greatest impact and most negative publicity long term.

It really, really dumb to not allow a trusted assistant for many of the paraolympians. There are too many people who will try taking advantage of a cute blind/deaf girl, or convince someone like Mikey to do something that will get him into trouble. This is a catastrophe in the making.

postplies wrote:

Please Stop wrote:

I am surprised it took that long before someone brought up the no personal care assistant policy by Tokyo. That policy could end up being the one that has the greatest impact and most negative publicity long term.

It really, really dumb to not allow a trusted assistant for many of the paraolympians. There are too many people who will try taking advantage of a cute blind/deaf girl, or convince someone like Mikey to do something that will get him into trouble. This is a catastrophe in the making.

In the case of the swimmer I thought I heard in one news report that there was an official assistant assigned to the team but I think it was one assistant for a team of 20 or more. How do they expect one person to provide full support of so many all at the same time. How can a stranger know how to provided the personalized support some may require? They allow Jill Biden and international reporters/journalists to travel to the games but they do not allow someone to travel with athletes that may need specialized support.

Japan chose early in the pandemic support their local pharmaceutical companies and get vaccine from them even though it turned out they could not provide them in a timely manor. They also chose to not accept the studies from other countries that showed vaccines that were available were safe and effective. They only would accept studies performed within Japan. So the result of their decisions was to have among the lowest vaccination rates in developed countries while trying to host an international with restrictions that could have been avoided.

As someone who actually knows Mikey and Sonja and contributed to this GoFundMe campaign I am insulted by the ignorance of NZNN and resent his insinuation, no make that statement, that Mikey is somehow profiting from this fundraiser.

I first met Mikey at the 2018 New York State HS championships which he had come to watch which were being held at Sunken Meadow near his house in Northport. He had graduated high school two years earlier. I had seen him run over the years but never really talked with him before. He looks like a "normal" enough lad while running but when you speak to him one on one you realize that he is definitely challenged. And that the NCAA's decision that he could not manage college academics at any level was probably correct. However I was incredibly touched by his genuineness and warmness and impressed by his Rainmanesque ability to recite the PRs and races of mutual friends.

At the time Mikey had just come back from an Olympic training camp in Colorado where he had spent two weeks running with some of the world's top runners. This was the first solo trip in his life (he was probably 19-20 years old at that time) and that made him so proud. That fall day of 2018 he was wearing his U.S. Olympics sweatsuit and hat and told us stories of how the runners he had run with there had nicknamed him the "Young Lion".

We first met Sonja at The Armory that winter as she was coaching Mikey thru a workout on a snowy Tuesday night. I got to speak with her a bit and was struck by her selflessness and the personal sacrifices she was making to coach Mikey. She is not getting paid much if anything as she feels it is her calling to help out. Despite what some may have assumed, the Brannigans live in a working class town on eastern Long Island and are not wealthy. Sonja slept on the couch for a year because there was no guest room.

The Brannigans didn't start out as track fans. But they have seen the confidence that Mikey's success has given him and just hope that it gives him the confidence to be able to live on his own some day. I'm sure that would mean more to them than another gold medal.

Mikey and Sonja are two of the most genuine people I know and I am always inspired when I think of them.

I can give a huge +1 to all of this. Mikey spent last summer here in Buffalo, NY running his ass off. The kid is super talented and determined. Sonya was with him everywhere. There is no way he should have to travel without her.

Thank you for this wonderful post