Sarah Searle, a sophomore at Lewis-Palmer High School, has been the perfect example of someone who never gives up and pushes through even when met with extreme difficulties and struggles. Her biggest struggle has been participation cheerleading with the risk of getting seizers.

Searle has cheered for the past two years and has done gymnastics for twelve. She has done all of this while living with a burden that has haunted her since she was three years old; seizers. And the worse part, doctors do not know what causes them and she has no control over them.

Searle’s seizers are usually triggered from stress or adrenaline, which is difficult to avoid when stunting for the cheer team. It has affected her ability to cheer and Searle wasn’t cleared by the doctor to fly until recently.

For most of the Cheer season Searle has had to sit out during practices and games and she has felt extremely discouraged and even planned to quit at one point. “Yeah, I feel like I’m not really important on the team since I couldn’t do much. It is hard knowing that I’m not going to be able to go on after I have a seizure,” Searle said.

Searle said some negative ways her team has been discouraging her, “They fake seizures a lot which isn’t really supportive.” Even with all of the people telling her to quit and thoughts of quitting, she manages to push through and be brave.

The main reason why Searle hasn’t given up and is planning to stick it out till the end is because of the love and encouragement coming from her best friend, Kimmy Loidolt. Loidolt is her most supportive teammate and friend in the whole school.

“She always makes sure I’m hydrated and safe. She is really concerned and knows all the signs of when I’m going to have a seizure so she’s always got my back,” Searle said.

Searle said that if Kimmy wasn’t on the team she would have quit.

“She pushes me to do my best and she always tells me that I’m great at cheer and that I’ll be okay,” she says. Searle is excited to continue her cheer leading carrier through high school and is thrilled to be practicing this week and to potentially cheer at the football game this Friday.