Today is Saint Patrick’s Day, a worldwide celebration of Irish culture, that actually originated in the United States and has since grown in popularity, especially in its home country of Irelend.
Here in the U.S., one girl is celebrating her Irish heritage by participating in Irish Step Dancing. Alyssa Rothman, now 13 years old, is a competitive Irish-step dancer, but after she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 10, she thought her dance dreams might end.
We visited Alyssa when she was 11 years old and spoke to her and her mother, not only about dancing, but how Alyssa was taking responsibility for managing her disease. She also organized her dance team to raise funds for diabetes research and to help raise awareness.
Alyssa is literally stepping up to the challenge of not letting Type 1 Diabetes get in the way of her dancing!
Wishing Alyssa, and parents and kids everywhere, a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Fadra Nally is a Communications Specialist for Johnson & Johnson. When she’s not working, she’s mothering a precocious 6 year old in the suburbs of Baltimore, MD. In her spare time, she writes all.things.fadra, one of the Top 100 Mom Blogs for 2012 according to Babble.com. She’s also the co-founder of Charitable Influence.