Pfeiffer University Cheerleader Has a Special Day Courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation
by K.C. Culler – Pfeiffer Assistant AD for Athletic Communications
It was a normal winter Saturday in Merner Gym on the campus of Pfeiffer University. Two basketball games were being hotly contested by the Pfeiffer basketball teams against their foes from Methodist University.
The Falcon women's team received a career-outing from a standout player in earning a 79-77 win.
The Pfeiffer men were locked into a typical grueling conference game where they eventually fell to the visitors.
Although the games are a big part of student and community life in the small town of Misenheimer, the halftime routine during the men's game was a little different.
During that narrow span of 15 minutes where coaches from each team are making their adjustments in hopes of making a strong showing in the second half to win the all-important conference game, the gym stood eerily silent.
Pfeiffer head cheerleading coach Justan Mounts took the microphone and stood center court, reading a statement that he prepared, fighting back tears at times. The unknowing young lady, who is fighting an almost certain debilitating disease, stood alongside her mother and other family members in close proximity of her head coach.
As he read the statement, fellow cheerleading teammates formed a tunnel from the side of the gym, depending on where you were sitting the day's special guests came from the left… or right.
Kim Towles, a volunteer representing the Eastern North Carolina Chapter of Make-A-Wish, among others, were then introduced and strolled to center court, balloons in hand, as well as some other small gifts.
Then the big reveal.
Pfeiffer cheerleader Skylar Davis, from Cary, N.C., was granted a wish she made to visit the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She will leave on Feb. 29 and will be visiting the museum and the rest of the sites in Amsterdam during Pfeiffer's upcoming spring break.
Her mother Jenn Davis said that Skyler has been dreaming of this since she was 10 years old and after reading the Diary of Anne Frank in third grade, she felt a connection to Anne. When asked why she feels connected to Anne Frank, Skylar said, "Having Cystic Fibrosis is like being trapped in my body, much like Anne was trapped in that room in the attic."
Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disorder that affects the way the body makes mucus, a substance that helps your organs and bodily systems work. Mucus should be thin and slippery, but those who have CF, it becomes thick and glue-like. This blocks tubes and ducts throughout your body and over time, it builds up inside your airways making breathing difficult. It also can trap germs and leads to infections and can cause severe lung damage like cysts (fluid-filled sacs) and fibrosis (scar tissue).
Since her diagnosis, her mother has gone to extraordinary lengths for her daughter to enable her to compete in cheerleading, softball and other activities.
"Skylar would spend anywhere from three to five days in the hospital and would then return home to finish her rounds of antibiotics through an IV," said Jenn. "These rounds would normally take around three weeks to complete."
Skylar would attend school like any other student, with her mother often coming during lunch to administer the IV treatments, then Skylar would return to class.
This procedure became normal for both mother and daughter.
Skylar enjoyed playing softball in her youth, and excelled, as she scored the winning run in a tournament while her port was accessed.
Cheerleading, however became her passion. Her small stature would enable her to become what is known as a "flyer" throughout her middle and high school days, also doing so while receiving her IV treatments. The flyer is the individual that is lifted and often propelled into the air while performing twists and flips, while landing in the sure-handed "basket" of her land-based teammates.
Her high school team qualified for the state meet, and she also participated with her high school "stunt" team, a team that showcases many different aspects of cheerleading that removes the crowd-leading element and focuses on the technical and athletic components of cheer, including partner stunts, pyramids, basket tosses, group jumps and tumbling. These elements are put together in short routines that competing teams must perform head-to-head.
She did all this, while being accessed.
Jenn said that Skylar has been told that she simply cannot do things based on the disease that she is battling.
Her mother continued, "Skylar continues to prove that she can, and she will."
