PHELPS: Event was outstanding

“I wanted to do something no one else has ever done — no matter how hard it would be.” That’s how Michael Phelps started his intimate talk at the May 21 evening event, “Swimming Against Stigma” at the Kroc. He was outstanding. His many Olympic swimming awards were explained and we understood why Michael is the greatest athlete of all time. He and wife, Nicole, explained the journey Michael had been on with depression, anxiety, suicide.

“I looked at myself as a swimmer, not as a person.” He checked himself into a rehab center. “I was scared. I texted a note to my Mom: I’m the most scared I have ever been. Then I had to turn in my phone — so I didn’t get a response back from my Mom for 45 days!”

In 2008, he and Nicole started the Michael Phelps Foundation which promotes water safety, and physical and mental living. Michael urges getting therapy to find help with anxiety, depression, suicide.

Through all the wonderful accomplishments that Michael Phelps has had over a lifetime of competition, he said, “To be able to save a life…is way bigger than anything I did before.”

My thanks go to Jimmy McAndrew for being Master of Ceremonies; to Alexander Nipp, president of the Interact Club of Coeur d’Alene; to Tyson Durbin, Youth and Family Specialist at The Kroc; and to The Kroc Center for having this event.

Lois Lane, Reporter, The Daily Planet

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LOIS MOORE

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