8/16/2023 0 Comments Tiny tim saying![]() ![]() Read more: Jam out to Imagine Dragons at Toyota Stadium, Frisco “Each year we choose a charity to honor during our annual Scrooge production and he so inspired us that we are donating $1 of every ticket sold to Muscular Dystrophy research in his honor.” “We want to provide a place where every child’s voice can be heard, and Jonathan has a very powerful and inspirational message,” says Director Sara Egelston Akers. “I think it’s fitting for him to be in the role of a boy who had nothing of monetary value, a life shortening ailment, and despite all of this, like Tiny Tim, has a great big heart full of love and joy.” ![]() “We are 100% on board with talking about his obstacles and his successes overcoming all of this,” shares his mother, Tiffany Rizzo, who works as a respiratory therapist at Medical City of Plano. When asked what he likes best about being part of Scrooge, Jonathan explains: “I like being in a cast with both adults and kids, and I’ve already made a new friend!” He plays “Fortnite” and wants to either be a “You-Tube Gamer or a neuro-muscular doctor … so that I can help other kids that are in the same situation that I’m in, or maybe an actor… I haven’t decided yet.” His favorite drink is a chocolate shake and he loves penne with red sauce. In most ways, Jonathan is like every other eleven-year-old, though given his health challenges, he is homeschooled. When asked what he would wish for, Jonathan replied without hesitation, “I wish I could ride my bicycle and jump on a trampoline with my friends.” In the musical Scrooge, Jonathan will sing A Beautiful Day, a solo relating Tiny Tim’s dream for a future beautiful day where wishes come true. ![]() Read more: Plano Community Band- Free family fun! “We didn’t know he was facing this until he rolled into rehearsal in a wheelchair.” As Jonathan’s father, Michael Rizzo relates, “he has his good days and his bad, and more often he needs the chair.” “He’s such a positive little guy with such a warm and bright personality,” says Darrell Rodenbaugh, playing opposite Jonathan in the role of Scrooge. There is no known cure.īut Jonathan happily takes the stage in this, his 24 th show, saying “when I’m on the stage, I feel proud and confident … and I become the role and don’t think about any of this.” When asked if he gets nervous taking the stage, “No, I’m not nervous at all … none of this scares me.” “I’m in a wheelchair and he’s with a crutch … and I get worse and worse, and he gets worse and worse.” This progressive inherited genetic disease generally leads to an eventual loss of the ability to walk and a shortened lifespan. “We’re both crippled,” says Jonathan, knowingly. While today he still has a full range of motion, he experiences strength loss in his hips and is often wheelchair bound. Jonathan, now eleven years old, was diagnosed a little over a year ago with limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 2C. ![]()
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