2025 Sean Runyan Athlete of the Year: Mary Helen Biller

Born with Spina Bifida and the youngest of seven children, Mary Helen Biller has found her way to a happy and adventurous life. After having to stop taking physical education classes in middle school and high school, her partial paralysis and other effects from Spina Bifida made being active an impossibility for Mary.

Eventually, after a 25-year career as a preschool teacher, she began involvement with the Spina Bifida Association of Iowa. While currently serving on the board, Mary participates with Adaptive Sports Iowa, and early on, found the opportunity to work with an athletic trainer for the first time. Without knowing if she could physically work out, Mary overcame the fear and just tried it. She got hooked. Over years of adaptation, compromise, and determination, Mary has gained strength, balance, and has achieved goals she never thought were possible.

Mary has done multiple 5k’s, branched out to trying adaptive snow skiing, and absolutely loves the Adaptive Sports Iowa Wheelchair Tennis program. Mary found out about an adaptive hike at the Grand Canyon and couldn’t stop thinking about it. She set her mind to training, and in 2019, she summited the entire canyon with her niece Janet. She also raised $9,500 for the Spina Bifida Association of Iowa. Mary says it’s the best thing she’s ever done.

Mary’s biggest challenge in her sporting life has been trust. Without ever swimming in her life, she wanted to try adapted kayaking with every fiber in her body. Eventually, she overcame the worry and trusted her body to try it. Now, she says “As long as I have those stabilizers hooked onto my kayak, just let me go. 20 years ago, you would’ve never seen me out there”.

At 57, Mary calls herself a late bloomer.  When she was born, her parents were told she wouldn’t live to see milestones. “Two years was the max”. Whenever Mary hit those unexpected milestones, her mother, Helen, would say  ‘you go girl’. When asked to describe her adaptive sports journey, Mary said “I’m going to go. I’m going to go, and I’m going to keep going.”

Adaptive Sports Iowa couldn’t be more honored to present Mary Helen Biller as our 2025 Sean Runyan Athlete of the Year.

Mary summiting the Grand Canyon in 2019