Cheryl Angelelli may be paralyzed from the chest down, but she doesn't let it stop her from shining on the dance floor.
Cheryl Angelelli may be paralyzed from the chest down, but she doesn't let it stop her from shining on the dance floor.
"I may not dance with my feet," Angelelli told Inside Edition. "I dance with my heart."
As a teenager, Angelelli became paralyzed after hitting the bottom of a swimming pool.
"The day I had my accident, my life changed, but it didn't change me," she said.
Despite her grievous injuries, Angelelli fell in love with ballroom dancing. "It was absolutely beautiful and I knew right then and there it was something I wanted to try," she said.
Now, she's risen to seventh in the world for wheelchair ballroom dancing in 2017.
Inside Edition was there on the night of a recent competition as Angelelli and her partner, Tamerlan Gadirov, took to the dance floor. At the end, he lifted her above him.
"I love hearing the crowd when I go up in the air," said Angelelli, who admitted she used to scream when he'd pick her up.
She won the event — and the hearts of everyone.
"To know I touched so many lives through dance, it made me really, really happy that I can inspire people in that way."
RELATED STORIES
