Yamilka's Story of Hope

Yamilka's Story of HopeShe doesn’t have any arms and lacks one leg, but 9-year-old Yamilka smiles in a way which shows the happiness all human beings should feel just for being alive. Anyone who meets her is captivated, including the First Lady of Puerto Rico, Luisa Gánadara, who  saw Yamilka in her ballerina attire, demonstrating her skills.

Yamilka came to the world with a condition called phocomelia (lack of limbs, in her case both arms). In addition, she had a malformation of the hips and a shortening of the left leg, which was amputated two years ago in order to get a prosthesis that enables her to walk. Yamilka has attended Easter Seals-Puerto Rico since she was a newborn.
 
This charming girl dreams of becoming the first ballerina with a prosthesis and her mother is making arrangements to register her in the Guinness Book of World Records. Yamilka is taking ballet and jazz at the Lilly Castro Academy in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. She also sings at the Charismatic Church in Corozal, Puerto Rico.

In 2005 she was selected to dance in the “Nutcracker” with the ‘Ballet Teatro’ at the Francisco Arriví theater.
  
“When I dance I feel free from what I have,” says Yamilka. “I feel a tickling sensation and butterflies in my stomach, but my mom prays and I relax. I don’t believe that I have any handicaps; I feel like a normal girl.”