JESSICA KOLDITZ / Scroll

Student overcomes obstacles to become athlete, swimmer

Scott Gower GOW00001@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

Like most other 18-year-olds, Tyrel Murphy, a freshman from Idaho Falls, loves to swim.

Like other students at BYU–Idaho, he participates in the intercollegiate swimming league.

Like other athletes here, Murphy tries his hardest while competing, giving everything he has.

There are about 50 students who swim competitively at BYU-I; what makes Murphy different than the other swimmers that give their all?

The difference between him and all of the other swimmers is that five years ago last month, his life changed forever.

In February 2001, he and his brother were sick with strep throat. During this time he was running to the bathroom to throw up and on his way he twisted his ankle.

“[The ankle injury] mutated into this flesh-eating virus, and they had to cut it off,” Murphy said.

As he began adjusting to the prosthetic leg, Murphy began to see what the hardest part would be.

“You have to relearn everything. You have to relearn to walk, to run, to walk upstairs, to walk downstairs and how to do everything,” Murphy said.

His amputation occurred during his eighth-grade year of school, and Murphy attended high school the next year. Originally he was planning on taking the swimming P.E. class, but with all his surgeries he couldn’t go into the water, so he took it during his senior year.

While he was taking the class, the swimming coach approached him about joining the swim team.

“I said ‘sure,’” Murphy said, who saw joining the team as fun opportunity. “I wanted to know how it felt to be a jock.”

Murphy started attending BYU-I this Semester.

“I was bored up here, so I needed to find things to do,” Murphy said.

Murphy found swimming once again as he joined the Knights swimming team in mid-season.

“It’s motivating. He’s had to work through a lot of adversity,” said Jon Saxton, a sophomore from Ames, Iowa, and the swimming coach of the Titans, the team with which Murphy practices.

“It’s just impressive to see someone try that hard,” Saxton said.

His disability has not prevented him from swimming, nor from living his life.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Murphy plans on going to medical school and becoming a doctor.