Young Dancer Who Lost Her Leg Inspires On LIttle Big Shots

A talented young dancer who lost her leg inspires Melissa McCarthy on Little Big Shots when she shows her just what she can do.

“Tessa started dancing when she was two years old,” says Tessa’s dad, Matt. “It was always a natural thing for her. Music comes on, the girl moves.”

But in 2017, Tessa became very sick. “Her leg started swelling up. She couldn’t stand on it,” Matt shares. “We took her to the emergency room. We knew something was really wrong with her.”

The doctors found out what was going on with Tessa and had to put her into emergency surgery. It was then when she lost her leg. After that, the little dancer was in a coma for five days.

Once Tessa came out of the coma, her parents had to let her know about the loss of her leg. “It’s the hardest thing trying to explain that to your child,” Matt says.

After spending over two months in the hospital, Tessa was finally able to come home.

“Once we got her home is when the true Tessa started coming back,” shares her father. “She wanted to get her roundoff back handspring back; she was determined. She set goals and she set her heart to it.”

With her strength and determination, Tessa got her back handspring back! In fact, she showed off her roundoff double back handspring to Melissa McCarthy. Melissa was so impressed she fell to the floor and gave Tessa a big hive five after her trick.

“So, after you had your surgery, how long did it take you before you started dancing again?” Melissa asks Tessa. She tells her that it was about 2 months later.

“That’s amazing. I did not think that it was that quick,” says Melissa. “It was definitely hard,” Tessa responds.

In order to achieve her goal and get back into dancer shape, Tessa stuck to a vigorous workout routine. And she continues to work out five times a week, four hours a day. What a hardworking little girl!

It is inspiring to see Tessa work so hard at her passion and use her story to inspire others. What a joyful and resilient young lady!