Girl born blind grows in grace, power and wit

They call her the Anaconda.

Danyelle Cerillo’s vicious leg sweep in ju-jitsu class is so feared that only the boys will face her -- and they often end up facing the ceiling. The energetic 13-year-old also enjoys tap dancing, horseback riding and archery.

And she was born blind.

“In all these activities, she’s the only blind person,” says Danyelle’s mother, Carla Cerillo. “The teachers have structured the classes so they can have one-on-one time with her.”

For instance, Danyelle explains that her tap teacher “shows me the steps after she shows the whole class, and she numbers the walls so I can find my directions.”

Because Danyelle was born prematurely, her retinas never attached. Being blind from birth, she developed her sense of balance independent of vision. So when a sighted person might become disoriented and fall in darkness, Danyelle can jump or spin -- carefully -- or knock the legs out from under an opponent.

She says that she’ll sometimes give new people her cane and invite them to walk with their eyes closed. “They bump into things. They panic.”

Danyelle, a straight-A student at Buena Park Junior High, has a younger brother and sister whom she “watches” when her father is at work and her mother is at school.

The family travels in the summer so the kids can experience other places. In Hawaii when she was 3, Danyelle could feel how the sand there was different from California beaches.

“I remember the smell of the volcanoes,” she says.

Even more than traveling, roller coasters or throwing boys around the mat, Danyelle loves to sing.

Through the Braille Institute, she’ll go to a recording studio this summer to lay down a track. The early front-runner is “Rock Your Body” by her favorite singer, Justin Timberlake.

She’ll also make her annual visit to Camp Bloomfield, which specializes in activities for blind kids. There, she will climb rocks, work on her swimming, tie-dye shirts and touch the chickens and the sheep. “And I think I make necklaces,” she says slyly. “I’m not sure.”

Carla says that new people can be skittish when meeting her daughter. “Once they find out she’s really nice and sweet, they can’t stay away from her.”

“I can be mean!” Danyelle objects.

And who would dare to disagree with the Anaconda?

About 11,000 children will go to camp this summer thanks to the $1.6 million raised last year.

The annual fundraising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1.1 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771. To make credit card donations, visit la times.com/summercamp.

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