Stand up and cheer for Tayloure

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Fremont wound up on the wrong end of a 55-29 score to Banning on Thursday night, but that didn’t stop Tayloure Richardson, 17, a senior dressed in a red and white Fremont cheerleader outfit, from yelling her heart and lungs out for the Pathfinders.

Unlike the other 18 Fremont cheerleaders, Tayloure did her cheering sitting down -- in a wheelchair. She is not paralyzed but has a medical condition known as osteogenesis improfecta, or extremely fragile bones. It’s a congenital disease, meaning it was present at her birth. At the moment there is no cure.

While she may not do the splits of perform high leg kicks, Tayloure is seen and heard by the fans -- even by those who may not think she should be on the squad. She says those fans are in the minority, however, and most people are supportive.

‘I was looking at some of my friends doing [cheerleading] and I thought I wanted to try it,’ she said. ‘My friends and family encouraged me to do it. Some people asked why [since] I can’t do half the stuff they can do. But I can’t listen to them because they’ll keep me back.’

She said she wants to go to college, preferably a historical black college or university. ‘I’m looking at Spelman, Prairie View A & M, Tuskegee, Grambling State, every HBCU I can find,’ said Tayloure, who wants to study law or medicine.

She doesn’t know if her bone density will ever become strong enough for her to do all the things she sees her friends do -- ‘That’s in God’s hands,’ she says.

But her life -- and how she lives it -- are in Tayloure’’s hands. And she’s not letting go.

- Mike Terry