KNOXVILLE (WATE) - East Tennessee Olympic gold medal swimmers Claire Donahue and Davis Tarwater visited East Tennessee Children's Hospital Tuesday, handing out medals to patients.
The visit was part of the Medals4Mettle program. Local runners donate their prizes to give to kids, helping strengthen their mettle to fight whatever illness they're battling.
"The idea behind this is these are earned, but we want to give them to the kids to encourage them to reach their finish line. They need them more than we do," said Kristy Altman, with the Knoxville Track Club.
Tuesday's visit has double meaning for Tarwater. He spent nearly three weeks in Children's Hospital when he was about 10. "I know what it would have meant to me back then, just priceless," he said.
Donahue agreed, saying of all of the benefits of being an Olympian, visits like this one have proved to be the most rewarding.
"I am able to give back, and I did not expect this side of this. Now that I'm able to, this is huge," she said.
In the end, one of the patients summed the visit up best. "That's pretty awesome," he said with a huge smile.
To learn more about the Knoxville chapter of Medals4Mettle, email laura.howard@medals4mettle.org
Davis Tarwater and Claire Donahue
This patient told the duo he's a football fan. Then Tarwater gave him a medal.
