Felix Varela Senior High student goes from debilitating disease diagnosis to defying odds in sports
It was just four years ago that a Felix Varela Senior High School senior went from being diagnosed with a debilitating disease to defying odds through sports.
Sofia Motta might look like an ordinary student athlete, but the Felix Varela senior is actually dealing with an almost invisible disease.
"I was almost wheelchair-bound," Motta said. "I had a lot of people not believe me that I had this because they don't know what it is, they're not familiar with it.
But her disease, while rare, is very much real. It's called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic condition that makes her body's connective tissues weaker, including her joints.
Diagnosed at age 13, Motta decided she wouldn't let EDS control her life.
"Not taking care of my body, I could risk a lot more things, faster," Motta said. "So I decided to join as many sports as I could - I tried out for soccer, decided I wanted to become a trainer, to look at the joints themselves, work with all of the muscles."
Motta is also on her school's wrestling and flag football team - she knows she has to work twice as hard to build muscle, to be strong enough to be on the wrestling mat. Despite all the extra work though, she wouldn't have it any other way.
"Now, I'm able to do things that I never thought I was able to do because I went from putting on a seatbelt in the car, my shoulder came out of place, to now I could go to tackle or jump up for the football and it's still stable," Motta said.
"There were a few times when you see her trying to do her moves and you kind of squint, but [it's] her mindset I believe that got her to all the things today," said Felix Varela Head Wrestling Coach Eric Hughes.
Sofia didn't stop there: Jumping to create a nonprofit organization called Motta's Helping Hand, providing kids with other invisible diseases with blankets, stuffed animals and more.
"So I was like, what about those young kids that they try to say something that they're feeling pain and people don't believe them, how do they feel?" Motta explained. "Because I was 13 at the time, I felt terrible so I can't imagine what younger kids were feeling."
"l think it's amazing for someone with that disease but she also helps everyone else around her and she doesn't really bring it up but she also gets what she has to get done and she's still active in sports," said Motta's wrestling teammate Jordan Pineda.
While Sofia was the first to be diagnosed with EDS in her family, her mother and two younger siblings discovered they also had the disease. She encourages them not to let it control their lives either.
"So I told them, 'try these sports, try running, I know it's going to hurt at first - it will, I'm not going to lie, it will hurt at first but I promise you'll get through it and you'll feel amazing after, you'll be proud of yourself and everything' and they're working towards it, so it's amazing," Motta said.
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