When Bill Brooks and Katie Neddermeyer swim, they talk about movies, music and the latest shows on television.
The two go to movies at Wells Hall every once in a while on the weekend, and for Neddermeyer's 21st birthday, Brooks bought her margaritas at the Texas Steakhouse Saloon in Lansing.
Neither dreamed such a close friendship would come on the other side of a newspaper ad.
Two years ago, Neddermeyer answered an ad Brooks placed for someone to help him swim. The two have spent an hour twice a week at the indoor and outdoor pools at IM Sports-West ever since.
For Brooks, a Lansing resident since 1980, the much-needed exercise isn't easy to get. He has cerebral palsy, a disorder that disrupts muscle control. He changes into his Speedo swimwear and orange life vest in a private room with disability accessibility in IM Sports-West and rolls his chair up to another chair that is adjacent to the pool, which lowers him to the water.
When he's in the water, Neddermeyer helps guide him up and down their lane while swimming laps.
According to the American Medical Association, swimming is important exercise for people with cerebral palsy - it helps them feel freedom of movement in the water because the water supports body weight. Warm water helps to loosen tight muscles and build strength.
"It's very important for people with disabilities to get exercise, because it keeps our muscles from becoming useless," Brooks said. "If this happens, we would lose much of our independence."
Brooks has tension athetoid cerebral palsy, one form of the disease.
"This means that I have a dificult time moving or relaxing my muscles," he said. "So being in the swimming pool helps my muscles to move."
Neddermeyer, an elementary education senior, will be leaving MSU after this semester to begin her teaching internship in Detroit in the fall, so she will no longer be able to assist Brooks.
Brooks waited months before finding Neddermeyer to assist him in his swimming and said he isn't looking forward to finding someone else to help guide him in the water - although he says she will be irreplaceable as a friend.
"Katie means a lot to me," he said.
Brooks is a die-hard Spartans fan, attending as many football and basketball games as he can and sporting a green and white flag atop his wheelchair, looking weathered from hours of traveling through rain, snow and all sorts of other weather.
He has lived in Lansing for several years after moving from Florida and works as a freelance writer. His face lights up at the mention of MSU sporting teams - the same way it does when he rolls into the IM Sports-West lobby and sees Neddermeyer waiting.
"She does more than help me swim," he said. "Our relationship means a great deal to me."
Neddermeyer said she had no previous experience working with persons with disabilities. She answered the ad after spending time away from MSU and she simply needed a job.
"It's been really eye-opening," she said. "A really invaluable experience."
Neddermeyer has brought Brooks to meet her family and friends.
"We go out to dinner and talk," she said. "People think just because he has a disability, he can't talk. It takes him a little while to get out the words, but he knows what he's saying.
"He's a smart and wonderful man."
