LEXINGTON, N.C. — For 7-year-old Caliana Jeeter, being a gymnast is her dream.
“She’s been doing gymnastics by herself at home, by watching YouTube videos, for three or four years now and it’s been something she’s been looking forward to doing," said Caliana's mother, Maria Villanueva.
On Monday, at Central Carolina Gymnastic Center, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central & Western North Carolina inched that dream closer to reality with a full-year membership.
“We have a Make-A-Wish reveal for a little girl who is wanting to do gymnastics and we are going to provide that for her today," said owner of the Gymnastic Center, Abbie Lanham.
While she is all smiles, Caliana has epilepsy and has dealt with the effects of the neurological disorder since she was 4 months old.
“We were sitting at a restaurant, and she started having a seizure in the highchair. I rushed her to the emergency room, and she was there for about a week or two. They took a lot of tests and bloodwork that they had to do; the MRI was clear for us that her brain wasn’t fully developed at birth," Villanueva recounted.
Owner of the Gymnastic Center, Abbie Lanham, said that when the foundation reached out, it was an easy yes.
“Make-A-Wish is an amazing organization and to have the chance to be involved in that was amazing. From the get-go we were like, oh this is something we definitely want to do," said Lanham.
For Caliana’s mother, she hopes her daughter will be able to slowly fulfil her dreams in a safe environment.
“I look forward to her actually having fun! Now she can do turns, you have gym mats so I don’t have to worry about her hitting her head to hard which would result in a seizure and the mats are here to protect her and most of all her becoming more social – that’s what I look forward to most," said Villanueva.
Being able to spend that time with her on the mat is all she hope for.
“For me as a mother, it’s something to look forward to doing with their children! The classes, the practices, I even look forward to the competitions later," said Villanueva.