After 17 years of being a Special Needs Cheerleader, our daughter, Mikaila (Mika), has her 1st chance to showcase her indomitable spirit at the Inaugural Exceptional Athlete International Championship to be held at the ESPN Center at Disney World, the last week of April 2025, with her cheer-ability cheerteam, the Brave Cats. The Brave Cats were 1 of 4 teams selected after multiple rounds of competitions with other teams around the nation to be able to showcase their talent and bravery in this inaugural event.

As all of her friends, family and followers on her Facebook page, Mika’s Journey, know, Mika has survived nearly 3 decades of major health issues related to her Mitochondrial Disease; severe, debilitating & degenerative seizures; multiple gut surgeries, as well as a 2008 surgery that separated the two hemispheres of her brain that was done, ultimately unsuccessfully, in an effort to either stop or reduce her life-threatening seizures. In the last 15 months she has spent 9 months in Cincinnati Children’s and UC Medical Hospitals, beating severe sepsis in her Central Line 6 times, including one that resulted in heart surgery.

This opportunity, assuming her current relative stable health holds out long enough, will allow her to show the world that though she may be severely affected by multiple health issues, any of which could take her at any time, that she is not defined by her frail health. Mika was never supposed to make past her teens but is now 28. The medical world has for so long told her she shouldn’t and couldn’t…but every day she proves she can and she will.

Please help us get her to the Inaugural Exceptional Athlete International Championship in April. It’s time for her show the world that she is not defined by her illnesses but by her strength and courage and fierceness.

The monies raised will go to offset the costs for renting a handicap-accessible van for the trip, hotel costs, event entrance fees, etc.

Thank for your help!