Special Olympian is ready
to go for the gold

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

When John and Linda Rose settled in Mayfair 30 years ago, they couldn’t possibly have expected that a child of theirs might someday become an Olympian.
And when Jesse, the couple’s third son, was born a few years later, any remote thoughts that he might be the one to develop into a world class athlete were dashed.
Jesse Rose was born with Down syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by impaired cognitive and physical development.
But since his very first days on Earth, Jesse, now 26, has astounded and inspired those around him. He never let his condition prevent him from excelling in school, at work, recreationally or socially.
And when a near-fatal bout with diabetes last year threatened his dream of representing the United States at the Special Olympics World Summer Games next month in China, Rose again succeeded against the odds and beyond all expectations.
He gained control of the disease through diet and exercise, trimmed 50 pounds and is now in the best physical shape of his life as he prepares to swim four races for his country — including the grueling 800 meters.
That event is eight times as long as any race in which he’s ever competed.
"I want to get the gold," Rose said last week during a gathering of his proud family and coaches at the Northeast Community Center pool, where he’s done most of his recent training. "It’s a lot of work."
Fortunately for him, Rose has never been afraid of a little hard work. In fact, he’s basically been training for his big Olympic moment for more than two decades.
Mom Linda first brought him to the local pool when he was 3. It’s not like Jesse was a natural in the water, but once he got the hang of it, the activity proved a great way for him to get much needed exercise and spend quality time with his family, particularly his two older brothers and younger sister.
"It was years of learning, but once we got it, we were off and running," Linda Rose said.
Jesse and his siblings — John, Michael and younger sister Jamie — loved being in the water, whether at the shore or in the pool.
"Jesse fit in when they’d play tag. Jesse was as good as everybody else in the pool," Linda Rose said.
"He kept up with everybody else in the pool," John Rose added. "I can’t swim. If it was me and him in the pool, it wouldn’t even be close. He’d just beat me."
Growing up, Jesse attended a special Archdiocese grade school, Our Lady of Confidence, at Little Flower High School. He then attended high school at Cardinal Dougherty and graduated in 2002.
He was about 12 when he first got involved in the local Special Olympics swim program under head coaches Ted and Carol Angerman. Fran Moore, Sean Charlton and Justin Garcia are assistants. All are volunteers.
There are about 15 athletes on the team, Carol Angerman said. They work out every Saturday afternoon from October to about March, when they add two evening workouts each week to their regimen. They mainly use the pool at Abraham Lincoln High School.
The team usually travels to three meets each year, culminating in the Pennsylvania Summer Games each June at Penn State University. For the purposes of the competition, athletes are grouped based on their capabilities and encouraged to do the best they can.
Jesse Rose has been a stalwart of the meet for years.
"He’s been winning gold medals since we started," Ted Angerman said. "He may swim four heats (in a given year). Sometimes he wins one gold medal, sometimes four."
Rose’s gold medal performance at the 2006 games made him eligible to represent Pennsylvania on the USA team headed to Shanghai next month. He was the only male swimmer from the state selected to compete at the World Games.
The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity had a catch, however. Rose made his name swimming shorter distances like the 50 and 100 meters. But in China, he’d have to race up to 800. That’s 32 laps of a standard Olympic pool.
Rose accepted the challenge, figuring he’d have over a year to prepare. When asked then if he wanted to do it, he confidently replied, "I’ll take it."
By October he had already extended his range to 400 meters. Then potential tragedy intervened.
The morning he was to see his family doctor for treatment of cold-like symptoms, John Rose found his son unconscious on the bathroom floor. The father tried and tried, but couldn’t coax a response from Jesse.
Philadelphia Fire Department medics discovered that Jesse’s blood sugar was sky high. The ambulance took him to Jeanes Hospital, where his older brother Michael was on duty as a patient escort.
Medical personnel there measured Jesse’s blood sugar at 1,550. A normal level is about 100.
"They were telling me they had never seen anybody with a level that high," Mike Rose said.
"All of his organs were shutting down," John Rose added.
The hospital folks stabilized Jesse, enabled him to recover from the scare and diagnosed him with Type 1 diabetes. Rose was prescribed regular insulin shots, as many as five a day for a period.
During the ensuing weeks, the Olympics again seemed more of a remote dream than reality. At least to Jesse’s family it did.
To the competitor, however, China was still a go. He became a model diabetes patient by taking personal responsibility for his regimented diet. He worked his way down from five shots a day to none. Now, he keeps insulin around only in case of an emergency.
In February, he got medical clearance to start training again.
Rose’s first thought was, "Good, I need it (to) beat the Chinese."
In the months since, he’s dropped from about 186 pounds to 136.
"Slowly the weight came off. And the more the weight came off, the more energy he had and now he’s insulin-free," Linda Rose said.
Jesse has gotten results in the water, too.
"He’s swimming better now than he ever swam," Fran Moore said. "He really couldn’t do a four-hundred last year and now he’s doing an eight-hundred."
Rose will be one of 7,000 athletes in Shanghai next month. They’ll participate in a myriad of sports such as swimming, track, basketball, bowling, gymnastics, soccer, power lifting and tennis.
Rose won’t be a total stranger to the competition, however, as he was a member of a floor hockey team that in 2001 won gold at the Winter Games in Alaska.
Sean Charlton’s brother Danny and the Angermans’ son Teddy were also on the team.
This time, Rose will compete in three individual events, the 200, 400 and 800, along with a four-person relay. The races will be held over several days.
"Just put him down for four golds," Ted Angerman said. "I think he’ll win them all." ••
Visit www.specialolympicspa.org for information about the Special Olympics in Pennsylvania.
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com