4 days Ago
Mallory Weggemann had five Paralympic medals to her name until this summer. Add two to that count: gold and silver medals earned while swimming in the 2024 Paris Paralympics in August. Weggemann, who lives in Eagan, had a busy year as she worked toward training for competition in Paris, and this time there was a new team member in tow alongside her husband Jay Snyder: their 2-year-old daughter Charlotte.
Snyder and Little Charlotte celebrated Weggemann’s accomplishments alongside other family and friends who traveled to Paris. For most of the group, the trip consisted of crossing an ocean, but it was a much bigger journey for the family of three. That journey is what they chronicle in their documentary “Watershed,” which sheds light on Snyder’s infertility and journey toward starting a family through IVF treatments in addition to Weggemann’s journey as a athlete with disabilities.
Weggemann became paralyzed from the waist down after a failed epidural treatment at 18. Her left arm was also paralyzed following a spinal injury from a fall before the 2016 Rio Paralympics. “Seeing Charlotte point and go ‘mama’ as Mallory came out to the starting blocks in a packed arena and her banging her cowbell and going nuts.
.. seeing that all come to fruition is so special,” said Snyder, who is co-CEO and co-founder of TFA Group, a brand marketing agency and production studio, alongside Weggemann.
The documentary also shows Weggemann’s training process for the Tokyo Olympics, which were pushed back a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Weggemann and Snyder wanted to produce Watershed to tell a story about being an athlete with disabilities in hopes of de-stigmatizing disabilities in athletics. Additionally, they also wanted to shed light on reproductive treatment and male-factor infertility — when infertility is normally associated as an issue that affects women.
“It initially stemmed from this desire to accurately bring representation to the screen in terms of disability,” Weggemann said. “I think so often in the disability community, stories are told for us and not by us. We really wanted to utilize the power of storytelling to change the narrative around disability and find a way through storytelling and sport to authentically share that journey.
” Both Weggemann and Snyder didn’t want the documentary to solely focus on Weggemann’s disability, but rather to be a voice for the community about what living with a disability is like. “We had people share about how the way in which we chose to share the story – through grief and trauma — really related to them and their own lives and the things they’ve been through,” Weggemann said. “One of the main themes [of the documentary] is to give people the strength to fight through whatever adversity they’re going through.
” As gyms and training facilities were shut down due to the pandemic, Weggemann had the opportunity to start training in alternative ways — and to consider starting a family. However, there was one caveat — they couldn’t have a child in a typical way. However, it wasn’t due to Weggemann’s disability — a common misconception that Snyder talks about in Watershed.
Rather, it was because Snyder deals with male-factor infertility, rendering him unable to reproduce. Male-factor infertility is not talked about as much as female infertility, a point that Snyder wanted to make in Watershed. “It’s so important to enlighten audiences on the true process of what IVF is and awareness of male infertility and what men like myself go through,” Snyder said.
“I gained a lot of strength through being vulnerable (while producing Watershed). For me, that was what helped me continue down this path of knowing that I’m not carrying that weight on my shoulders anymore.” Although infertility affects both men and women equally, Watershed hopes to shed light on the struggles that come with infertility, especially with male-factor infertility, which isn’t talked about as often.
“We hope to bring voice to that, a voice for other couples navigating through this, but also speaking truth to what the process really is,” Weggemann said. “In a world where people are making pretty strong opinions about what that looks like and how it can affect millions of families, it’s important [that] people truly know what it is that they’re talking about.” Watershed chronicles the couple’s emotions during IVF treatment, which included receiving over 700 injections, surgery, and an epidural treatment — the same treatment that caused Weggemann to be paralyzed on both legs.
Since Watershed’s release during the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Weggemann and Snyder have hosted film screenings for the community, which include open discussions on the topics of the documentary. Watershed has also been shown in film festivals and AMC theaters and is also available on Peacock and on Delta Airlines’ in-flight entertainment systems as part of their ongoing partnership with Delta. Related Articles Health | Lawrence Tech studying assaults against health care workers Health | Harpist at Clinton Twp.
hospital provides a sweet distraction Health | In divide on women’s health care, a consensus on menopause Health | Long COVID study could be a ‘game changer’: AI can identify hidden cases from health records Health | What makes walking so great for your health and what else you need to do Weggemann and Snyder directed and produced the film in partnership with their production company, TFA Group Productions. Milk Haus Productions and Morning Moon Productions also contributed to the project. Weggemann and Snyder declined to comment on the documentary’s budget or how much it has made since its release.
Weggemann and Snyder continue to appear at film screenings in the area, inviting audience members to discuss the topics mentioned in the documentary to stay connected with the community. “When watching our film, people don’t necessarily need to be living with infertility or living with a disability to really connect,” Snyder said. “It’s more of a life journey, and that was the biggest thing that we wanted to take away was giving people that hope and show a real story through adversity that we can relate to on a deeper and emotional level.
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