Burlington teen born with rare bone disease pushes boundaries, inspires others as international para-dancer

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Who has bright lipstick, a beaming smile, and an ambition like no other?

15-year-old Eve Dahl.

The Milwaukee sophomore has spent her entire life defying odds after being born with osteogenesis imperfecta, otherwise known as OI or brittle bone disease.

"It basically is a thing that affects my bones, so I break more often than most people," Dahl told CBS 58's Ellie Nakamoto-White. "I'm also shorter and I might have a little bit of muscle growth issues.”

According to the National Institute of Health, infants born with recognizable OI make up about one in every 16,000 to 20,000 births.

Dahl herself has broken more than 100 bones and has had dozens of surgeries.

“I don’t want it to be viewed like, 'oh, I’m worse off I guess than other people' because everybody has certain types of challenges. I just have a different kind," Dahl said.

When she was five, Dahl discovered dancing, and since then, it's become her life.

“I kind of say I have my regular life and then I have my dance life and my dance world," Dahl said. “Dance allows me to find myself and lose myself at the same time.”

She trains weekly inside of a studio at the Fred Astaire building in Brookfield, practicing all kinds of dancing.

Her favorite? Latin.

"Mentally, I feel like dancing and the new challenges, it’s brought me a different kind of purpose," Dahl said. “It allowed me to kind of have challenges that were suited for my disability, or for a disabled person, rather than being a regular class, and having to adapt everything for myself."

She began taking ballroom classes nearly four years ago, where she met her current instructor and dance partner, Ernie Olivas.

“When she first came in, she was a small little thing. I remember her kind of like a little shy. She was still outgoing, but she was that, 'I want to do it, let’s try it kind of person,'” Olivas recalled. “Seeing her and her dreams and her goals and her drive is actually really inspiring, and so the fact that I can have any little part in that is actually quite amazing, and like I said I feel blessed to be able to be a part of it.”

Olivas added that working with Dahl is similar to an able-bodied person.

“It’s not really different than we just make a few adjustments because of the chair," Olivas said. "I could put her out next to a professional and have them doing the exact same patterns and they will look practically the same.”

The dynamic duo choreographs routines together and have taken their talents nationwide, competing in Detroit last summer in the country's first para-dance competition.

“[Para-dance world] is one place that nobody’s different. Everybody’s there because they love to dance and because they’re doing dance and that’s the whole purpose," Olivas said. “It showed that we were on the right path for what we were doing.”

Just months after, the two competed internationally in Europe, placing first twice in Malta.

“It’s just really enjoyable to see her go after her dreams and what she loves to do and pursue her passions," said Eve's mother, Deb Dahl. “You know when you’re a parent and your child is diagnosed with a very life-altering disability, it seems really earth-shattering, I guess. She’s just always handled all of it with a grain of salt and has always been happy and I just thought, well, who am I to teach her it’s going to be anything different?”

Dahl described her youngest-of-five as "outgoing, confident, and determined."

“She doesn’t look at her disability as a roadblock, as just, 'this is what I want to do so I’m gonna do it,'" Dahl noted. "She just has a love of life, I think.”

Currently, Eve and Ernie are training for another competition in Detroit, before they take on the world championships this fall in Italy.

“Here, I’m in a different mindset, number one, but I’m also a different person. I like myself more, I’m just happier in general," Dahl said. “You don’t know how far you can get until you’ve gotten there.”