About five minutes after Adam Page was born, a doctor pulled his father, Norm, aside to

deliver the heartbreaking news.

&#8220He&#8217ll never walk,&#8221 the doctor told him. &#8220He&#8217ll probably be blind,

and he&#8217ll probably be retarded.&#8221

Adam was born with the most severe level of spina bifida, with his spinal cord growing

outside his body.

Almost 18 years later, Adam Page will don the red, white and blue of his nation and walk

proudly, with his forearm crutches, into next week&#8217s opening ceremonies of the 2010

Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Starting March 13, he will hop onto his metal sled, grab his two cut-off hockey sticks and

fly around the hockey rink with the U.S. sled hockey team.

It&#8217s not time to douse the Olympic flame in Vancouver just yet. Adam and his buddies

&#8212 nine with ties to Buffalo &#8212 are chasing the gold medal that eluded both U.S.

stand-up hockey teams last week.

The U.S. sled hockey team, which won the world championships in the Czech Republic last

year, remains a co-favorite along with &#8212 who else? &#8212 the host country, Canada. Both

the men&#8217s and women&#8217s U.S. stand-up hockey teams lost to Canada in Olympic gold

medal games.

Like any accomplished athlete, Adam is using those two setbacks as a motivating tool.

&#8220Since both U.S. teams lost,&#8221 he said, &#8220I feel one of us has to win.&#8221

Adam, a senior at St. Mary&#8217s High School in Lancaster, was asked whether he was

looking forward more to the whole Paralympic experience or the on-ice battle for gold.

&#8220At age 18, it will be an amazing experience,&#8221 he said, &#8220but you want to top

it off and win the gold.

&#8220I&#8217m definitely excited, but I&#8217ve told myself not to get too hyped up, to

keep a level head. I&#8217m telling myself it&#8217s just another tournament. We&#8217ve been

playing the same teams all along.&#8221

Adam, who will be heading to Medaille College in the fall, sat dry-eyed in the kitchen of

his family&#8217s Lancaster home, listening to his parents, Sandy and Norm, talk about how far

he has come since the day he was born. But the box of tissues never got too far away from

Adam&#8217s father, a man who&#8217s not afraid to shed a tear.

&#8220It&#8217s an amazing journey,&#8221 Norm Page said of his son&#8217s accomplishments.

&#8220I don&#8217t know how else to put it. I think we&#8217ve always believed Adam was here

for a reason. Sandy and I talked about that when he was a baby.&#8221

They decided simply that they would give Adam every opportunity they could.

As a young boy, he was into karate, horseback riding, Challenger baseball and the Skating

Association for the Blind and Handicapped before focusing on sled hockey, which he started

when he was 6. At age 14, he made the U.S. junior sled hockey team. The next year, at 15, he

made the national team. Adam has traveled across the United States and visited other parts of

the world to play sled hockey.

And he doesn&#8217t turn 18 until next week.

&#8220He&#8217s accomplished so much,&#8221 Sandy Page said. &#8220My mother said it&#8217s

unbelievable the life that this kid has had. ... Norm and I persevered. We did whatever it

took for him to be successful and have life at his fingertips, like any other child.&#8221

Little of that seemed possible March 10, 1992. Adam was born seven weeks early, after his

mother endured an extremely difficult delivery.

Norm Page saw his son&#8217s fingers and toes and heard him cry. So he thought everything

was OK until the doctor said, &#8220Mr. Page, I&#8217d like to see you for a minute.&#8221

The doctor walked him over to Adam in the nursery, where the newborn had a big hole in his

back. &#8220My knees buckled,&#8221 Page remembered. &#8220I was in shock. I couldn&#8217t

believe it.&#8221

But the shock quickly turned into action.

&#8220We&#8217re both very strong people,&#8221 Sandy Page said. &#8220We knew we were

going to make the best out of it.&#8221

Adam&#8217s physical therapy started at 6 weeks old. He began crawling at 10 months. At age

3, he took his first independent steps. Along the way, he has had 10 surgeries. Adam now can

walk throughout the house without crutches, although with a very pronounced limp, largely

because of a dislocated left hip. Everywhere else, he uses his crutches.

Except on the ice.

&#8220Over his lifetime, he has questioned very little about his disability,&#8221 Sandy

Page said. &#8220He has never felt sorry for himself.&#8221

Adam has had his setbacks, even on the ice. At age 13, he didn&#8217t make the junior

national team. Then, four months after he made that team at age 14, he just missed making the

adult national team.

Each time, he returned home determined to work harder to make the team. Since working out

with cqProformance Sports Training staff in Amherst for the last two years, Adam has built up

his upper body and put on 40 pounds.

The last three years, Adam has practiced on his sled twice a week with St. Mary&#8217s

stand-up hockey team.

&#8220The first thing I said when they said I could go out there, I told them I wanted them

to play as if I was on skates and not to hold anything back,&#8221 Adam said.

Because the stand-up skaters have a longer reach, Adam has learned to protect the puck

better by keeping it on the side away from the defender. And he has made an impression with

his stand-up counterparts.

&#8220They&#8217re amazed at the fact that he&#8217s a world-class athlete,&#8221 St.

Mary&#8217s coach Rich Ineson said.

&#8220They&#8217re amazed at what he can do with the puck, and he&#8217s not using his

legs. He can shoot like an NHL player and pick corners [of the net]. He&#8217s got a nasty,

nasty, quick wrist shot.&#8221

High praise for any hockey player.