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    Categories: life

17-Year-Old Girl With Paralyzed Arms Became A Ballet Dancer Against All Odds


Watch the teenager with paralyzed arms who has become a ballet dancer

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A 17-year-old girl with paralyzed arms, from Atlanta, has become a ballet dancer despite her disability.

Sarah Todd Hammer developed acute flaccid myelitis when she was eight years old that left her with paralyzed arms.

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Sarah experienced a severe headache during her ballet class and was rushed to the hospital.

She was left paralyzed from the neck down even before going to the emergency room.

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Sarah Todd told Barcroft TV: “They flew me by helicopter to the nearest hospital and I remained in the emergency room for six hours with no treatment.point 236 |

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I was told that if I wasn’t better in the morning to just bring me back, and I woke up the next morning unable to move my legs and feet.point 109 | point 112 | 1

“I remained in the hospital for two months where I was in the ICU for 12 days.”

Eventually, she regained control of her legs through physical therapy and plasma exchange. However, she is unable to move her arms and hands.

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Sarah finds it hard doing daily tasks, including getting dressed and showering.

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She said: “I am unable to do buttons and zippers on clothes so getting dressed is almost impossible. Until I was 15 I never really actually got to take a shower by myself.”

Despite her disability, she decided to follow her passion and continued dancing. She also published her first autobiographical book ‘5k, Ballet and a Spinal Cord Injury’ when she was just 11.

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She dances, choreographs and is living her life like any other teenager.

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She said: “I still have a really good life, I always tell people that I am still a normal teenager just with a few other challenges.point 392 |

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I always just told myself that I would be able to dance again and then when I stood up on my tip-toes in therapy I knew that I’d be able to start doing it again.point 129 | point 132 | 1

“I still have a disability but I still continue to dance just like I would if I didn’t have a disability, I just do it in my own way. I think in my opinion dancing is what you want it to be.”

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