Wyatt was born prematurely with many health challenges and spent 7 months in the NICU. His early life was full of surgical procedures, yet he lives his life with an optimistic attitude. He was heartbroken when his dad sat him down in middle school and told him he could not play organized sports because it was too risky for his health challenges with Cerebral Palsy. When he learned about Special Olympics, he finally had some hope. That hope turned into him competing in basketball and tennis. Wyatt is a trained health messenger and a paid health intern at Special Olympics Nebraska. He loves speaking about overcoming adversity and has had the opportunity to participate in many speaking engagements on behalf of SONE. He runs two podcasts with his best friend, another with his twin brother, and a fourth that he started to promote health and fitness for SONE. In 2023, he was inducted into the SONE Hall of Fame. Outside of his many Special Olympics activities, he loves reading biographies on sports and crime and listening to podcasts.
“The impact I hope to make as a SSGM is that people hear my story and realize what Special Olympics is all about and that’s overcoming obstacles in life. Dealing with Cerebral Palsy, I face obstacles every day and I try to always look at the positive side, even when it’s hard. I hope that people will see that if we can face obstacles every day and overcome them, that they can too. They can overcome obstacles in life and go for their dreams just like a lot of athletes have done. I hope people will see the greatness in Special Olympics and we can make it grow more and more.”
Sargent Shriver Global Messengers 2024 – 2027
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Yeruult Batbayar
Special Olympics East Asia -
Grace Payne
Special Olympics Asia Pacific -
Malvin Mukombe
Special Olympics Africa -
Gilmour Borg
Special Olympics Europe Eurasia -
Margaret Turley
Special Olympics Europe Eurasia -
Mujahid Al-Sarhani
Special Olympics Middle East / North Africa -
Melissa De Leon Mazariegos
Special Olympics Latin America -
Wyatt Spalding
Special Olympics North America -
Pablo Composto
Special Olympics Latin America -
Susan Wang
Special Olympics North America
