Terminally-ill Oklahoma girl, 9, with rare condition achieves her dream of starring in the 'Nutcracker'
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Christmas has truly become a season of joy for a terminally ill nine-year-old girl. Olivia Francis, who was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition in 2020, could not contain her happiness when her lifelong dream of starring in the 'Nutcracker' came true.
Francis had always dreamed of performing in the Christmas ballet, but the little girl's dream was shattered when she was diagnosed with Friedreich's Ataxia just a year after she started taking dance lessons. “It’s called Friedreich's ataxia. It affects about 15,000 people nationwide,” Francis' mother, Mary, told KOCO. The rare disease directly affects a person's ability to walk and makes them dependent on a wheelchair or walker, per Daily Mail.