Mekayla Holm had a plan.
She would finish her career at Park High School, go to college and move on to medical school to become a pulmonologist. Then a medical diagnosis changed the plan and her approach to life. Holm’s been dancing 12 years, but in her freshman year her parents and others noticed she was developing stability problems. There was concern about her spine during a March 2015 physical, and her pediatrician referred her to a specialty clinic. From there she was sent to Shriners Hospitals for Children. Doctors suspected Holm’s symptoms were due to something more than scoliosis.
After hearing doctors discuss Friedreich’s ataxia as a possible diagnosis, she said she returned to school and started researching the disease.
“I was in the bathroom crying because I didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “I was very scared because I’ve always had a plan.”

Read the entire article HERE