A South Carolina high school student named Nataleigh Deal, 19, suffers from Down Syndrome and epilepsy.
She was nominated among several young women to serve as homecoming queen at Strom Thurman High School in Johnston, South Carolina home of the rebels.
Nataleigh was all ready to join the school’s homecoming court during the football team’s halftime break the night of October 4 when she suffered a seizure sometime before the game.
A Doctor advised Nataleigh and her mom that she couldn’t wear high heels because her body wasn’t stable.
”At that moment when I found out I couldn’t wear heels, I didn’t feel too good,” Nataleigh told WJBF.
When her special needs teacher, Miesha Gordon got this news she reached out to the other homecoming candidates who decided to walk barefoot because they thought if Nataleigh couldn’t wear her shoes, they wouldn’t wear theirs either.
”My first thoughts about walking across barefoot were, “Of course, I’ll do it!” Not only because my heels were hurting my feet, but mainly to make Nataleigh feel better,” fellow homecoming court candidate Lillian Mann said.
Nataleigh was crowned homecoming queen and the magical evening ended on a happy note.
”I heard [them] saying my name and [then] I became Homecoming Queen,’ Nataleigh said. ”I was feeling much better.”
Her sister Carleigh Deal wrote in a Facebook post, ”This weekend has been unreal. I have cried more times today than I have in a while thinking about how blessed we are to be in a community that loves our girl beyond what we could’ve ever comprehended before Friday night.”
”The news interviews, the love and support we have seen from this community is all more than my mom, Nat or myself ever could’ve imagined. complete love and inclusion in this world are both still VERY much alive and I pray every child, special needs or not, experiences and expresses them just the same.”
”I am so proud of this kid my heart could burst. it’s taken a village to raise her, but we’ve had exactly that!! the fruits of our labor in her have really shone out weekend. to those of you who have always been apart of that village and never wavered, we say THANK YOU.”
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