Kiera Brinkley contracted a deadly bacterial infection, when she was just 2 years old, that required doctors to amputate her arms and legs. But they couldn't take away her love of dance. In August 2009 she realized a long-standing dream of hers and performed at Juillard in New York city, and in the process reinforced for students there what one Julliard instructor describes as the "magic of dance as an art form". For Kiera, who has never allowed herself to be defined by her disability, dancing has been a way to get people to see past her wheelchair, and actually see her. In her words, "Never stop. Never ever think that the life that you have now is all that you can have. Just go out and do what you have to do."
