Arlee Rodgers loves watching TV, the movie “Frozen” and waltzing, and other activities a normal 5-year-old loves. But Arlee Rodgers isn’t a typical 5-year-old. She has cerebral palsy.
But that didn’t stop her from dancing, playing games and singing this weekend at the MSU Dance Marathon.
MSU Dance Marathon hosted the sixth annual marathon and raised more than $30,000 for The Cassie Hines Shoes Cancer Foundation and Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital Children’s Center.
This year was MSU Dance Marathon’s first year partnering with Sparrow Children Center affiliate Children’s Miracle Network, a non-profit organization which raises funds for children’s hospitals, medical research and community awareness of children’s health issues.
President of the MSU Dance Marathon and special education senior Maria Guracech said the MSU Dance Marathon has opened doors to be more involved with a wider experience of disabilities.
“I knew where my heart was and I love trying to made a difference in children’s lives,” Guracech said.
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With their daughter enrolled as a kindergartener at Dimondale Elementary School, Arlee’s parents expect her to have nothing more or less than normal.
“She’s always going to have physical challenges, but we’re very lucky because she is going to be able to do things,” Jynel Rodgers, her mother, said. “It’s just a matter of how she’s going to do them. She’s going to walk but maybe she’ll walk with the walker, maybe crutches. I think the CP is just our reality, it’s what we deal with, it’s not negative, it’s just different.”
Even though cerebral palsy “means a lot” to Arlee, she doesn’t use her limited ability as an excuse.
“When I try my best, it doesn’t stop me from anything,” Arlee said.
Born seven weeks premature, Arlee was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 15 months old after an MRI and neurologist appointment. She initially had trouble walking, and couldn’t sit on her own. Since diagnosis, Arlee has been in physical and occupational therapy, working toward goals for most of her life.
Now 5 years old, Arlee uses a walker for long distances, recently began using arm crutches and has achieved the goal of independently walking 50 feet.
Arlee’s proud parents, Jynel and Joe Rogers, couldn’t imagine what they’d do without the Children’s Miracle Network financial aid and donation to Sparrow Hospital where Arlee was admitted to the NICU after birth.
“She was on a breathing machine, they had to give her nutrition through an IV in her umbilical cord,” Jynel Rodgers said.
Team Rodgers, refereed to by Jynel Rodgers, believes education about cerebral palsy to curious company is the most important thing for normalizing Arlee’s cerebral palsy.
“I love answering questions and I love when kids ask. Parents will say, ‘Don’t point, don’t look’ and I say, ‘No, come over here and ask me, ask me so I can tell you,’” Jynel Rodgers said.
As a the middle child, Arlee’s older sister and best friend, Sophia, has naturally taken on many responsibilities in caring for her younger sister, valuing the closeness between them.
“Sometimes I want to do things by myself,” Sophia said. “She is the most important thing in my life, because if she falls down and doesn’t have her walker I can help her back up, she uses me as a stand too.”
Arlee’s parents tell her that everyone has differences, but hers are just more noticeable than others.
“We just tell her she’s special, just like everyone else is special, everyone has things they’re good at and everyone has challenges,” Jynel Rodgers said. “So she’s just as special as everyone else and no more special.”
Arlee’s favorite question people ask her is “Why doesn’t CP go away?”
“Because you were born with it,” Arlee said.
With dreams of being a doctor when she grows up, Arlee is no nonsense at therapy.
“I’m very proud of what I do,” she said.
