Girls teams join the Kiwanis par

Amputee finds her place in the rink: 18-year-old scores first goal for fledgling hockey team

By JACK WEILAND
The Patriot Ledger

HINGHAM - Donna Lundberg made a promise to herself when her baby daughter Leah had to have her leg amputated because of a rare problem with her fibula bone.

‘‘I just promised myself I would do whatever it took to keep her involved,'' she said.

That promise paid off. Leah Lundberg, an 18-year-old senior at Hingham High School and a member of the school's newly formed girls hockey team, earned the distinction this winter of scoring the team's first goal.

‘‘If I let my disability get to me, I'm just going to be a stereotypical disabled person and I don't see myself as that,'' said Lundberg, who has worn a prosthesis most of her life.

Lundberg's disability is barely noticeable as she takes to the ice wearing her No. 21 jersey. During pregame stretches, she steadies herself along the boards, pushing off both legs - the right edging out a little slower, a little softer than the left.

‘‘You forget she's disabled, because we treat her normally,'' her mother said.

‘‘Her brother Chris keeps saying, ‘What's the big deal?' Other people talk about her disability but we've spent all our lives treating her like everybody else - like she's not a person who needs any special treatment.'''

Hingham's starting left wing was born with a defect that forced doctors to amputate part of her right leg about 10 inches below the knee.

‘‘My fibula bone just never developed and it just caused everything to go off-kilter,'' Lundberg said. ‘‘My knee is underdeveloped, my ankle was turned in, I was missing some toes, my femur was stunted and I was missing some growth plates so my leg below me was stunted as well.

‘‘Amputating my foot was the best thing to do because my leg wouldn't have been long enough.''

As part of her physical therapy, prosthetist Greg Martino, who works in Braintree and Dorchester, started Lundberg in an amputee hockey league three years ago. She has been a self-described ‘‘rink rat'' ever since.

As Lundberg points out, no one can tell she wears a prosthesis under her skates.

Still, all sorts of people knew on Dec. 15 - the day Lundberg scored the first goal in the short history of the girls' team.

‘‘The place went nuts,'' when Lindberg swatted the rebound of a shot from team captain Erin McNichol into the net, Coach Tom Findley said. The team was losing 8-1 to Lincoln-Sudbury but no one seemed to notice on the Hingham side of the rink.

‘‘If I had to pick a girl at the beginning of the year that I would've loved to see (score the first goal) - and my daughter's on the team, too - it would've been Leah,'' Findley said.

‘‘The place went crazy, she went crazy. I grabbed the puck and gave it to her after the game. She still has the puck, it was awesome.''

Lundberg and the team are still feeling the repercussions of that first goal, Findley said.

‘‘It's just fitting because it's inspiration, hard work, dedication ... and it proves that you can overcome anything,'' Findley said.

The game puck now sits in the family's home, under the ever watchful - and proud - eyes of Donna Lundberg. After her coach gave it to her, Lundberg promptly gave it to her mother.

‘‘It brought tears to my eyes,'' Donna Lundberg said. ‘‘It was just so perfect for her and I know it meant so much to her. (Getting the puck) meant everything to me, because we've been a team for so long.''

Lundberg actually plays for four other hockey teams. She volunteers at a cat shelter and she works at the New England Friends Home, a low-income housing project for the elderly.

‘‘I don't want people to see disabled people and think ‘Oh, they're disabled, they can't do anything,''' Lundberg said. ‘‘I want to break the stereotype.

‘‘I don't want to be seen as disabled because I'm not a whole person. I'm missing my leg, but that doesn't stop me.''

Jack Weiland may be reached at jweiland@ledger.com.