An 11-year resident of Cottonwood Heights Kim Desautels has been a physical therapist for 21 years. She is developer and manager of the Hypotherapy Program (therapeutic horseback riding program) at the nonprofit National Ability Center in Park City. During cold months, she works in a heated indoor arena of a barn with 15-month to 70-year-old patients who have physical and cognitive disabilities.

"We've seen miracle after miracle," she said.

Desautels said the kids and horses were her saving grace while she was battling cancer in 2001-2003. "They're my heroes, and the horses are the superstars," she said.

Her most unusual experience followed her cancer treatment, when she lived for three months with her two sons in a three-story tree house in the jungles of Maui, Hawaii.

Always envisioning raising her children in Cottonwood Heights, she considers it perfect for her family to be close to the canyons, because both her boys are ski enthusiasts.

Desautel's dream is to go to the World Conference of Hypotherapy in Germany in August.

Her motto is to "be authentic and live with passion and intension."

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