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OGDEN -- The Ogden High School Tigers are in the middle of their basketball season. While the players get the credit for victory, there's a certain cheerleader who is doing her part to make sure they have a successful season.
Though Ogden was trailing Mountain Crest in a basketball game last week, it didn't stop McKenzie Egan from cheering her heart out! In fact, the junior cheerleader is the Tigers' lucky charm.
"She was the seventh child, and she was born on Feb. 7th at 7 a.m., and she weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces in room 207. So, she's our ‘Lucky 7,'" said McKenzie's mother, Debbie Egan.
"Her sisters have all been cheerleaders," Debbie explained, "and she just decided ‘I'm going to be a cheerleader too.'"
Cheerleading wasn't something Debbie thought about when she learned her daughter would be born with Down syndrome.
"Down syndrome? What does that mean? What is she going to be like?" Debbie asked herself. "I was a working mom, so I was worried if I was going to be able to work, and who would watch out for her; those kinds of things."
There would be plenty of people watching over her: family, neighbors, and now as a junior in high school, her girl friends.
McKenzie's older sister, Amy Morris, says it makes her happy to see McKenzie cheering.
"[I'm] very happy she has the chance to go out there. It's just the best thing ever," Amy said.
The Ogden High student body feels, and her mother, feel same way.
"I'm just really blessed that I have her," Debbie said. "She's just a real blessing in our family, and I'm just happy to have her every day!"
Mackenzie will celebrate her 18th birthday on Sunday.
By the way, Ogden came back and beat Mountain Crest last week in overtime!
E-mail: kaiken@ksl.com
