Jessica Heims: ‘Nothing stops her’

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jessica Heims has been asked if she was a victim of a shark attack. She wasn't.

She has told little kids she is a Transformer. She isn't.

Heims is a normal kid, with an abnormality. She has a disability, but is nowhere near disabled.

A 16-year-old sophomore at Cedar Rapids Prairie, Heims runs. She throws.

She excels.

'She'll try anything,” said Prairie girls' track coach Chris Perkins. 'Nothing stops her. She knows what she wants, and she's going to pursue it. She might just have to go about it a different way than most people.”

Heims was diagnosed with Amniotic Band Syndrome, a random congenital birth defect in which the fetus becomes entangled in fibrous amniotic bands in the womb, restricting blood flow and affecting the baby's development.

That wasn't the primary problem after Jessica was delivered.

'She was in tough shape,” said her mother, Kris. 'She wasn't breathing. Her APGAR score was 1.”

'(Medical personnel) took her away immediately,” said her father, Glen. 'We didn't have time to notice anything else was wrong. In all honesty, when they brought her back and she was alive, nothing else mattered. We just wanted our baby to be OK.”

Jessica's lower right leg and foot were deformed, lacking muscle and bone. Within 12 months, amputation was necessary.

But the Heims family is an active family (both parents have completed half-marathons), and Jessica wasn't interested in being left behind. Within 2 weeks of receiving her first prostethic leg, she walked.

That first prosthesis was her first of about 25. As Jessica grew from an infant to her current height of 5-foot-8, they quickly became obsolete.

A typical year meant anywhere from six to 12 trips to the Shriners Hospital in Minneapolis for refitting or replacing the prosthesis.

Today, she rotates two of them, a normal one for walking and a 'Cheetah blade” (similar to what South African Oscar Pistorius wore in the 2012 Olympics) for running.

The others are at Heims' home, in a box, simply labeled 'Used Legs.”

Jessica tried many sports when she was younger, including T-ball, soccer and basketball. Her first experience with track came at age 10.

'I joined the Cedar Rapids Track Club, and I was awful,” she said. 'I tried sprinting. I tried distance events. I usually got last. But I always crossed the finish line.

'At first, I was running with my regular (artificial) foot, and it's heavy. It was like I was running in shackles.”

Heims stuck with track into middle school at Prairie, and now into high school. She has run the 200 as fast as 30.06 seconds and the 400 in about 1:14 - 'I know I can do better,” she said.

With help from throwing guru Brad Wymer, Heims has developed an interest in the discus, and is flirting with 75 feet in that event.

'Those are competitive JV times and distances,” Perkins said.

Competitive against athletes with the advantage of intact bodies. Level the playing field, and Heims stands out based not on her condition, but by her ability.

In the 2013 Junior World Paralympic Games, she won a gold medal for her age group in the triathlon, plus a silver and two bronzes.

In the category of 'Below the Knee Amputees,” she is ranked in the top 16 in the world in the 100, 200, 400 and discus. She hopes to compete in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, which is held in conjnction with the Olympic Games.

One challenge of running with an artificial leg is the added time that it takes to get to full speed. Another is the time it takes to slow down at the end of the race.

'You only have one leg to brake with, so it takes her a long time to get her stopped,” Perkins said. 'So, a 60-meter dash, indoors, with a wall not far (beyond) the finish line ... that's not going to be Jess' event.”

There are challenges, yes, but there has never been a major incident or accident. Not on the track, and not on the triathlon circuit, in which she swims with one leg, bikes with her natural leg and walking prosthesis, then changes into her Cheetah blade for the running portion.

Heims is considering giving the hurdles a shot, just to see if she can do it.

The owner of a 4.0 grade point average, Heims is active with the Prairie band (she's a percussionist). She plans on a career in kinesiology or occupational therapy.

Jessica is the middle of three girls (Beth is a sophomore at Coe College; Nicole is a freshman at Prairie). There is love in the Heims home, but it's a normal home with typical teenage spats.

'One of (my sisters) got mad at me and took my leg and hid it,” Jessica said. 'It took me a while, but I found it in the kitchen cupboard.”

That's OK. Heims accepts no pity from others, and provides none to herself.

'I can always find a way around stuff,” she said. 'Sometimes there's anger and frustration, but I'll find a way.

'I always do; it just takes time.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com