The Georgia Aquarium And This Girl’s Amazing Story
Photo credit: YouTube.com
The Georgia Aquarium is more than a collection of tanks and fish. The aquarium and its staff have a goal to educate, inspire, and change the lives every visitor that enters its doors.
Just ask the Holt family!
The Holts have been active in conservation and environmental protection efforts for years and are passionate about all animals. Especially their daughter, Natasha, whose passion for animals helped her overcome a tremendous obstacle.
Natasha suffered a severe head injury and was in a coma after falling off of a horse.
Her outlook for survival was not good according to her family and doctors.
Her mom would sit by her hospital bed and talk to her about the dolphins at Marineland. Since she was a little girl, she loved visiting them at Marineland Dolphin Adventure – a GA Aquarium sister attraction in Florida.
They noticed Natasha was beginning to recover and her mom just knew it was due to Natasha’s passion for these animals.
When the Georgia Aquarium heard about Natasha, they knew they had to do something special. Once Natasha came out of her coma, Jessica Fontana, Senior Public Relations Specialist at the GA Aquarium, went to Florida to meet the Holts.
Jessica, Natasha and her doctors agreed that when she had walked the distance from Marineland in St. Augustine, Florida, to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta on her treadmill (that’s 322 miles!), that she and her family would be going on a special adventure.
Natasha burned up the miles.
When the day came, the Holt family traveled to the Atlanta-based aquarium where Natasha received a special surprise. Jessica found out through her visits with the family, that Natasha had developed an interest in beluga whales at SeaCamp. So Jessica arranged a “face to fin” meeting for Natasha and her mom.
They were able to get into the water with a trainer and a beluga whale!
You can see in the video how much Natasha’s face lights up. It’s amazing and heart swelling to watch the beluga give her a kiss on the cheek.
This was a day that Natasha and her family will never forget.
The Georgia Aquarium takes pride in knowing that everyday they inspire every visitor to care for animals, to learn about them, and to get out there and do something that will make our world a better place.
So thank you to the Georgia Aquarium, Natasha, and her family for sharing an amazing story and inspiration!
Source: Georgiaaquariumblog.org
