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SALT LAKE CITY — South Jordan resident Natalie Green said she experienced at least five seizures a day when she was younger.
One week after her 11th birthday, however, she underwent brain surgery. After that, she didn’t need to worry about seizures anymore, but she had lost the use of her left arm — and a few other faculties.
“Because of the surgery, there’s a lot of stuff I don’t know if I can do — like living on my own and stuff,” Natalie told Brandon Stanton, creator of the extremely popular Facebook page Humans of New York.
Stanton had traveled to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to interview athletes, parents, mentors and staff at the 2019 Special Olympics amid a hot debate on Capitol Hill about continued funding to the program.
While there, Stanton ran into Natalie and her best friend Katie Hut, two high school seniors from Utah who were chosen to represent the U.S. as youth staff members after they met and gave a speech about inclusion at the 2018 USA Games in Seattle, Washington.
“I met Katie at the Special Olympics office. We’re part of a program where you team up with someone who doesn’t have a disability and become like best buds and stuff," Natalie told Stanton. "At first, I didn’t know what to do because, you know, new people. But then it was like OK — I’m making a new friend. A real friend. We only see each other every couple weeks, but we’ve watched so much 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine.' And we have so many inside jokes. And we even have our own hashtag."
Stanton posted part of his interview along with a picture of the two girls and it quickly went viral — as many of his posts do. As of Wednesday, it’s garnered 76,000 likes and over 2,000 comments and shares, as people from all over the world continue to celebrate the girls' close friendship.
Though Katie and Natalie met just a year ago, they clicked instantly, Natalie’s father Greg Green told KSL.com.
“They spent seven days together (in Seattle) like literally joined at the hip,” Green said. “They just clicked. They really found out that they have a lot in common and that their sense of humor was very similar. … It’s just funny to see them together at the same time because they really sync up."
Katie considers Natalie her “best friend in the world” and believes their friendship is “truly the epitome of the Special Olympics spirit.” Natalie’s glad she’s found the Charles Boyle to her Jake Peralta and says the friendship just makes her “feel happy.”
“I’m having a really hard time right now. My brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and he’s going through so much, and it’s so, so hard. And sometimes he calls me names but I know he doesn’t mean it. And it’s just so hard. But whenever I feel down and stuff, I can just go in my room and think about all the fun memories I have with Katie,” Natalie told Stanton.
Katie and Natalie both hope to bring back to Utah everything they learned in Abu Dhabi — especially ideas around inclusion for those with disabilities. The pair is even planning to start a podcast, though they still need official permission from Special Olympics to use the organization’s branding.
“In my personal experience, inclusion means that everyone’s given a chance to do what they love and what they’re passionate about. And everyone is on common ground,” Katie said.
As controversy swelled around funding for the Games, Katie said organization officials asked participants to push a bipartisan social media outcry to voice support for the event. Soon after, President Donald Trump said there would be no funding cuts to the program — and even more money has been appropriated for the program since.
“I wanted to get involved in Special Olympics because each of our lives is so uniquely different, and it's common causes and goals that bring us together,” Katie said. “I think inclusion is really the cornerstone of humanity.”
