OPINION: Sarasota's deep connection to Winter the dolphin
Their last goodbye was a couple of Tweety Bird chirps and a wink.
That was how the most improbable relationship ended. One that helped people walk, talk and believe again. One that made people feel they belong.
To this day, Dan Strzempka can't explain the magic, or why the magic happened. He just knows it did. Amputees, autistic kids, veterans with PTSD … who wasn't inspired by Winter the dolphin and her tale of perseverance?
The story, of course, is famous by now. In December 2005, a fisherman found a baby bottlenose dolphin tangled up in a crab trap near Cape Canaveral. Winter, only 2 months old, was taken to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where she soon lost her tail.
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Kevin Carroll, a vice president at Hanger Clinic in Sarasota, which specializes in prosthetics and orthotics, heard about the dolphin on the radio and approached Strzempka, a clinic manager, with an idea he found almost crazy: What if they could develop a tail for the little dolphin?
To make the magic happen they needed to develop a prosthetic liner, one that would adhere to Winter's skin without damaging it.
They devised a version that Strzempka – who lost a leg in a lawnmower accident at age 4 – tested while playing a round of golf. It worked. It was comfortable and held up in the humidity. Winter had a tail, and no one could believe what happened next.
The Tampa Bay Times wrote a series on Winter's story, which led to a pair of “A Dolphin Tale” movies, and it was all too wonderful to stop there. Soon people were coming to Clearwater from around the world to see Winter.
You could make an argument that no one from Sarasota has made more of an impact on people's lives than Carroll and Strzempka. Simply put: Their ingenuity, that tail, obliterated limitations and, just as importantly, made people with disabilities feel included.
Autistic children would spend some time around Winter, and suddenly they were speaking more than they ever had. Vets with PTSD found inner peace. Amputees were empowered. If Winter could live, no thrive, well, then they could too.
Strzempka remembers this innate ability she had to focus on the visitors she felt needed attention the most, how she would pick out a kid in the crowd with a hearing aid, for example, and spend just a little extra time with that particular child.
“It was amazing when I took someone to see Winter,” Strzempka said. “There was some connection there, and I really don't know why.
“Part of it was people not being judged by her and people felt safe with her. There was a comfort.
“It was one of the most amazing things to see. I wish everyone could have seen it.”
There was concern last week when Winter was found to have an intestinal problem and would need surgery.
Strzempka drove to Clearwater to visit his friend on Wednesday. She looked bloated, but Strzempka held out hope. Around 4 p.m. he said goodbye. It was time to go home. She smiled, as usual, gave him a couple of Tweety Bird chirps, and then winked at him, just to let him know everything was going to be OK.
Winter the dolphin died the next day.
She is survived by everyone who feels they belong.
Contact columnist Chris Anderson at chris.anderson@heraldtribune.com. Please support local journalism by purchasing a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota men helped develop tail for Winter the dolphin
