Jacqueline Murphy had been a swimmer for fourteen years, a passion that occupied mornings before school, afternoons, weekends, school breaks and summer vacations. In short, swimming was her life, until New Years Eve 2004, when she was carried into a hospital emergency room and diagnosed with a fracture of the lumbar vertebra. Through the many months of treatment, surgeries and rehabilitation for her broken back, Jacqueline was unable to set foot in a pool, a terrible loss. But, she gained a new appreciation for the many people on dry land who offered unconditional support during her ordeal.
“I realized that there was no way that I could directly repay my debt to all those wonderful people – friends, family, therapists and doctors – for their incredible help and support,” says Jacqueline. “So, I began to actively volunteer, in an effort to give back to the community as a whole.”
As an incoming freshman at Ridge High School, Jacqueline heard about a program at the Somerset Hills YMCA, Saturdays in Motion, which brings high school students together with children who have autism and their siblings to play in the pool, frolic in the gymnastics room, and in general, have a light-hearted good time. ”Participating in Saturdays in Motion was one of the most rewarding volunteer experiences I have ever had,” says Jacqueline. It also served as a catalyst for Jacqueline to join the YMCA’s international committee, which was forming a partnership with the YMCA in Skopje, Macedonia. As it turned out, her timing was perfect; it gave her the opportunity to have a life-changing, perspectiveexpanding experience in summer 2007: attending the week-long Balkan Youth Conference at Lake Ohrid, Macedonia, with fellow students from Basking Ridge and hundreds of young people from throughout the Balkan region.
While volunteering at the Y can never fully fill the void created by the loss of Jacqueline’s dream for a swimming career, as she says, “it has created a whole new dimension of my identity. I once again have an involvement that I am passionate about. A sense of purpose consumes me, and never for a minute do I regret a moment of my past.”
