Bring it on : Cheeleader ’ s spirit sustained by Packard Children ’ s

When Sequoia High School’s athletes compete this fal l , they’ll have an unusual source of inspiration at each game. dancing on the sidelines as part of the school’s cheer team will be 15-year-old angel Gonzalez-Prado, the first cheerleader in the history of the redwood city, calif., school to perform in a wheelchair. “i’ve been wanting to cheer since i was really little,” said angel. “But i didn’t think i would be able to.” When a friend encouraged her to try out, she was nervous. However, her hard work to learn a dance routine quickly convinced coach Stacy morell that angel belonged on the team. “She was really smiley, she hit all the moves and she kept up even though she was only doing the upper half of the routine,” morell said. “i thought that was harder, since she had to mirror everyone’s arms when they turned around.” angel uses a wheelchair because she was born with spina bifida, a congenital defect in which the lower part of the spine does not form correctly. Her legs have been paralyzed since birth and she needed spinal surgery at Lucile Packard children’s Hospital while still a newborn. Since then, she has had more than a dozen trips to the operating room for a variety of procedures. She has also consulted regularly with caregivers from Packard children’s Bring it on: Cheeleader’s spirit sustained by Packard Children’s