CBS 58's Hometown Athlete: Cedarburg's Katie Kubiak swims for Team USA after life-altering surgery

CEDARBURG, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Katie Kubiak always loved to swim.

"So, I started swimming competitively when I was 5 years old," Katie Kubiak says. "I joined Ozaukee Aquatics."

Until she noticed a change.

"Then, around the time that I was 9 years old, I started noticing signs of my neuromuscular condition, which is late onset congenital myopathy," Kubiak says.

At 14, she had to retire and faced life-altering surgery as a freshman.

"I was told the fall of my freshman year that I was going to have to medically retire," Kubiak says. "And they wanted to do surgery that fall. But I said no. Let me have one last season with my team. Like a full, short-course season. I'll have surgery in spring."

From age 14 to 20, "I took, I think it was six years off," Kubiak says.

And then, swimming was suggested as part of Katie's rehab.

"It was a lot of committing to the sport for a week. And then getting really frustrated and quitting for a month. And then coming back to it," Kubiak says.

Learning new strokes and turns. But everything changed in her first competitive meet, in March of 2023.

"I was really happy with the times, based on how I was swimming in practice," Kubiak says. "And I left with a big smile on my face. My brother was there coaching me on deck. He was -- thought that the swims had all been awesome as well. My parents were super proud. And we packed up to drive back to New York City. And I got a message from the guy who was running the meet. And he said, hey, congrats. Not sure if you're aware but you just broke American records in these swims today."

Now, this Cedarburg native goes to Singapore in late September for the World Championships.

"I mean, every kid dreams of wearing the stars and stripes on their cap when they first start swimming as kids," Kubiak exclaims with pride. "And that was definitely my dream. So then to be able to have it realized in this way is so special."

And the Paralympics in 2028 are a possibility.

"To win gold at the Paralympics would be just the highlight, I think, of my athletic career but also just my life up until this point, because to me, it would mean that all of the work that I've put in, both in the water and also just on land, and medically, to get to where I am today, it would have paid off," Kubiak says with a smile.