ANDOVER — When doctors diagnosed Liam Flanagan with diplegia cerebral palsy, the hope was that he could eventually walk.
As in with the help of canes.
“Liam was diagnosed when he was born after a complicated delivery. We didn’t know how it would affect him until the walking was supposed to come; and it didn’t,” said Liam’s mom, Carlene Flanagan.
“We went to Children’s Hospital in Boston and saw specialists. I remember asking the doctors what were the chances that he was going to walk. I didn’t realize that medically they meant anything upright. They had a very different bar than I had as a parent. He was doing so great in every other way so I thought they were going to say ‘oh yeah, just give it time.’”
Now a senior at Andover High, Liam has defied those odds. With the assistance of two canes, he has not only proven doctors wrong by standing upright and walking, he’s also one heck of an athlete, too.
Downhill Skiing. Cycling. Triathlons. Sled Hockey.
Those sports have helped him physically and emotionally, but over the past three years he’s taken his athletic career a step further with his No. 1 sport: wrestling.
“That’s the one sport Liam has done that’s non-adaptive,” said younger brother Colin, who is also a member of the Andover High wrestling team. “Liam’s going against non-adaptive wrestlers, whereas the triathlon he’s on an adaptive bike or he’s walking with the canes. With wrestling, there’s a whole new layer with everything.”
A co-captain of the Golden Warriors, Liam uses his hands and the upper body strength of his 150-pound frame to snap down his opponents, which has led to a handful of pins between varsity and JV matches.
“Wrestling is grown men going against grown men and just beating the heck out of each other. It’s terrifying,” said Liam with a big laugh. “I’m injured now with a broken nose and a broken finger. You don’t know what’s going on (during a match) but it’s awesome, and just so thrilling.”
While athletics have helped him a great deal with confidence, the 18-year-old has been challenged every single day of his life with his condition. His incredible grace, patience, courage, determination and perseverance to overcome the obstacles have helped him with wrestling, but also as a spokesperson for people with disabilities.
Liam is the president and founder of the Disability Alliance Club at Andover High, the student liaison to the Andover Commission of Disabilities and has been appointed to Congressman Seth Moulton’s Youth Advisory Council. Liam has befriended Chris Waddell, who has captured four Olympic Gold Medals in Winter Paralympics, and had him come to Andover High as a guest speaker. Waddell also had Liam on his national podcast, and the two of them share a trait, of competing in extremely tough sports, despite their own disabilities.
“It’s 80 percent warmth of other people helping and supporting me and probably 20 percent in spite (of the condition),” said Liam. “At first I joined wrestling to show that disabled people can wrestle. I keep on wrestling because now people know that I can wrestle. People will tell me that I’m the reason why they keep on going and they’ll say, ‘You’re an inspiration.’ Those things help me so much. I believe the meaning of my life is helping people and helping people by not even doing anything is (an) awesome (feeling).”
Liam does well academically, and has already been accepted to six colleges. He intends to study psychology with a plan of helping people process their disabilities.
“I never envisioned my son having the strength and grit that he had to walk the way he walks, to overcome those odds and do all of the things that he does,” said Carlene.
Liam never was going to be denied
After Liam was diagnosed with his condition, the doctors instructed Leo and Carlene to get as much physical therapy for him as possible. They listened and they toured the country getting him the best help they possibly could. Throughout that entire time, Liam fought tooth and nail to reach his goal of walking.
“When something is as simple to most people like walking and it doesn’t come easy to you, I can only imagine that you don’t take things for granted and you don’t take anything as easy,” said Carlene. “I believe that is what prepared Liam to always keep trying, pushing and plugging. You talk about your threshold for your frustration point, when walking doesn’t come, I can imagine that you say, ‘Well, you need to dig in and work at it’. Liam’s frustration point is much higher than anything I have ever observed in most people.
“Liam has always been pushed to try everything and if it doesn’t work, fine, we’ll get in the car and go home. To him, the disappointment would be not be given a chance to try.”
Liam said he knows he’s not going to win every wrestling match and that’s OK, but he will never will let his disability defeat him.
“It’s very obvious that I don’t walk like normal people but I don’t really think about that because I just have done everything,” said Liam. “My friend has a hockey rink and asked if I could come over and eventually I learned how to ski. If other people don’t see my disability, than it’s hard not to pay attention unless you pay attention to other people’s warmth towards my disability.
“Being a disabled person who has struggled mentally processing my own disability and just trying to process that in different ways, I want other people to know that being disabled is OK. Even though (disabled people) don’t feel normal, they are normal, but just not in a typical sense.”
Getting back on the mat
When Liam was in elementary school, he joined the Doughboy Wrestling Club in Lowell. He took the next four years off before getting back into it during the 2021-22 season.
“Yasser Maita was the Andover wrestling captain at the time and he saw me at a football game. He kept insisting that I should join the high school wrestling team,” said Liam.
Liam thought it over and said yes.
He says it’s the best decision he has ever made.
“It means so much to me, knowing how loving everyone is especially how big Andover is (as a town),” he said. “Seeing the evolution of new wrestlers, seeing people who I have known for the longest time (means a lot to me). I have known (co-captain) Nicholas (Archambault) for the longest time and being captains with him, being friends with him since elementary school just means the world to me.”
Head coach Michael Bolduc said Liam has come a long way since his first day of tryouts.
“We are trying to have him tie up hands and have him slow down the motions. We’re trying to figure out what works best for him, and his matches are getting better,” said Rourke. “Liam will wrestle anyone. He doesn’t care who it is. When we are conditioning, he’ll do army crawls and when the rest of the team does something that he can’t do, he’ll do another exercise all on his own.
“Liam has every excuse to not work as hard and he gives no excuses. He does what he can do and does those things to the best of his ability. To me, that’s extremely defiant.”
Last Thursday night, Liam competed in a JV match. Up in the stands were Leo and Carlene who watched their son do something that doctors told them 16 years ago he would never have the opportunity to do.
“We don’t see another Liam on the wrestling mat. That to me speaks volumes of who he is,” said Carlene. “Liam has never expected anything. He has worked very hard to not be a spectator. By not being a spectator, he’s established the character of a leader and to coach’s credit, he recognized that.”
That success on the mat and especially in life, has also surprised even Liam.
“I didn’t even think that I would do a high school sport and here I am as a captain and winning some matches,” he said. “I’m exceeding my expectations and going above that bar. I’m doing things that I could only have dreamed of doing.”
Twitter: @JamiePote