When Danica was four months old, she stopped eating and began having other medical problems. Doctors told her parents that she had a fatal brain disease and that she wouldn’t live longer than 2 years old. But Danica began to get better and her mother, a former gymnast and current gym club owner, began doing gymnastics with her. Danica learned forward rolls and kickovers on the bars. She began crawling at age 4 and walking at age 5.
At age 4, Danica was diagnosed with Sotos Syndrome, also known as cerebral gigantism, which causes physical overgrowth during the first years of life and is often accompanied by low muscle tone and delayed motor, cognitive and social development. Because of gymnastics, Danica has progressed and improved by leaps and bounds, and she now climbs and walks independently without any devices. She is a happy 14 year-old who is integrated into junior high school.