Caitlin's Story - A Champion!
Caitlin's Story - A Champion!
Posted Jul 09, 2021 by Kellie Hansen. Filed under General
Caitlin’s Story
A champion in every sense of the word.
We often focus our attention on our students' many great achievements of which they have worked exceptionally hard to attain. Danzart students train hard, and our teachers are invested in dedicating themselves to developing successful dancers.
….and then
….a little fighter comes along and, against all odds, defies the challenges set before her and manages to keep powering on in her life, attending school and extracurricular activities such as dance.
Caitlin joined Danzart at the age of 5 and since then has been a very dedicated dancer; she is an enthusiastic student of Classical Ballet, Lyrical, Jazz, Tap and musical theatre. Caitlin is a group competition team member and sits ballet, jazz and tap exams. She is an inspiring young girl and has never let her illness get in the way of her joy and zest for life.
Here is Caitlin’s story
(told by Caitlin’s mum)
Caitlin was born with chronic renal failure. She only had one kidney, and that was damaged by a blockage, functioning at around 30%. She had a few surgeries as a baby, and with diet, medication and more than a few traumatic procedures, she has remained stable for several years. This year she has deteriorated to end-stage renal failure with less than 8% function. We were told she would not survive at birth, but here she is at 10 years - a little fighter!
Caitlin will have a kidney transplant in July 2021. She will be in hospital for about 10 days and then spend a term off school while her body adapts to the kidney and is immunosuppressed. (Good luck with that Danzart teachers!!) she will have a new regime of daily medications and a new diet, but we have been told she won’t feel sick every day (she has nausea often), and she will have a tonne more energy!
This year Caitlin never missed a rehearsal or a class, and some days she did not feel well and had to take things easy; however, she kept soldiering on. Challenges such as these certainly put things into perspective and how champions come in all forms.
