Natick athlete never wavered from Boston Marathon goal

One day I will be in the Marathon. That day is coming, but the road has been long.

Born and orphaned in Calcutta, Anjali was adopted when she was 3 months old by Natick residents Rosalind and Larry Forber-Pratt. Anjali almost immediately became ill, and soon was fighting for her life. She had been stricken with transverse myelitis, a neurological disorder that damages the spinal cord, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.

Today, at 26, she is one of the top US paralympians, and was honored recently by the Boston Celtics.

She won a bronze medal in the 400-meter wheelchair racing event at the Paralympic Games in Beijing in 2008. Last month in New Zealand at the International Paralympic World Championships, she won the gold medal in the 200-meter event, and silver medals at 100 meters and 400 meters, and qualified for next year’s Paralympic Games in London. “That was a major steppingstone,’’ she said.

Her 200-meter victory was in a world-championships record time of 29:83, leaving her closer competitor more than a wheelchair’s length behind. “That surprised me,’’ Forber-Pratt said. Her diligent work paid off. “I’ve been training hard since Beijing.’’

Now it’s all about her first Boston Marathon, as part of the event’s 115th installment on April 18.

“I’ve pushed up the intensity, building up more miles. When I got back from New Zealand I took a week off, then went right back to training for the Marathon the second week of February. I’m working on power and strength, because the Boston Marathon is a hilly course.’’

For as long as she can remember, she said, “the Boston Marathon has been on my list of things I want to do. I drew pictures of me winning it.’’ She was inspired watching eight-time wheelchair winner Jean Driscoll race through Natick.

“When I was in third grade I wrote a paper, ‘When I Meet Jean Driscoll.’ I met her in 1993 at the Junior Nationals in Ohio.’’ They became friends and have stayed in touch.

The 2009 Chicago Marathon was Forber-Pratt’s first try at the 26.2-mile distance. “I didn’t do well,’’ she said, finishing in 2 hours 25 minutes, more than a half hour behind the top women. “The cold didn’t help.’’

She entered Chicago again last year and finished in 2:02:05. That qualified her for Boston, and raised her confidence. “A marathon pushes you mentally and physically. I thrive on that challenge. It pushes you. There’s always something exciting about that.’’

Forber-Pratt figures to have strong spectator support next month going through her hometown, and past the Wellesley College campus, where the students are famous for their vocal support, especially for women.

“I want to be cheered all the way,’’ she said. Chances are she will be. There are plans to have supporters for her at every checkpoint.

On March 4, during the second quarter of the Celtics-Warriors game at TD Garden, Forber-Pratt’s achievements were acknowledged as part of the Boston team’s Heroes Among Us program, and it wasn’t just for what she has done in sports.

She has traveled across the country speaking to wounded soldiers, gone into schools to meet with blind and deaf students, and helped start an orphanage in India and a paralympic program in West Africa. The sellout crowd gave her a rousing standing ovation. “It was absolutely incredible,’’ she said.

“There’s a spirit about her that motivates other people,’’ said Zach Galvin, who was her teacher at Natick High, where he is now the vice principal.

Forber-Pratt coauthored a children’s book about athletes with physical disabilities as part of the “All About Sports’’ series.

She likes to quote Henry David Thoreau: “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find eternity in every moment.’’

Sounds a lot like her.

Lenny Megliola can be reached at lennymegs@aol.com.