Up until the age of five, Amya’s home was the hospital. Her mother, Chele, stayed with her at a nearby Ronald McDonald House, but her father had to stay at home, making the four-hour drive to Duke University every other weekend.

Since then, the going has been a little easier. Amya’s condition is managed today through 11 different medications, which she takes at the public school she attends.

Still, her childhood has been rife with frightening moments. Amya required early surgery to remove her adenoids and tonsils, and constant ear infections led to the placement of titanium tubes in her ears.  And just last year, surgery was performed to remove growths from her vocal cords.

The burden would have been a formidable challenge even for parents blessed with the luxury of focusing all of their attention on a single child.

But Amya is the youngest of a family of six children, one of which also has special needs.

As a result, her five brothers and sisters—Jessica, Demetrius, Makayla, Gaige, and Tai—have had to come together and rely on each other. Demetrius—who also goes by Dee—took the lead without complaint.

“He played [the role of] Dad and Mom when I was in the hospital with Amya,” Chele says. “He stepped up to the plate and didn’t complain; he maintained his grades; he still managed to play sports; all in all, he was the second parent for about nine years.”

One of Amya’s fondest memories came at the age of four, when the Make a-Wish Foundation organized a family vacation to Disney World to go see Mickey Mouse and Goofy.

It’s not as easy to make those trips now. Jessica has a family of her own, and Dee is off at college. He’s a freshman on the Crimson men’s basketball team.

That’s why Amya decided to go to visit Dee at school, as a way to show her gratitude for everything he has done over all these tough years, for “supporting me my whole life,” she says.

And she chose to thank her oldest brother by doing what she does best—cheerleading.

After one’s battled a life-threatening congenital disorder for nearly a decade, the 800 miles from Asheville, North Carolina, to Cambridge don’t seem so daunting. Neither does performing in front of a crowd of over 2000 at a Division I basketball game.

“I was kind of scared,” Amya says.

No one in attendance could tell. Arriving at halftime during Friday’s matchup against Brown, the 4’7 Amya—decked out in an official Harvard cheer uniform—showed off her tumbling ability.

The next evening, she participated in warm-ups with the cheerleading team and was able to take flight. Pausing momentarily from jeering Yale’s players, the raucous student section responded to her aerial acrobatics, coming up with a chant for Amya on the spot.