Nov 1, 2004 By Joyce Koballa 4 min read

PERRYOPOLIS – With Karri Jordan’s positive spirit it’s easy to see that she was born to cheer. So positive in fact that she received an invitation shortly after high school to audition for the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

But, the dream that Jordan had waited for since she was 8 years old was shattered when she suffered a knee injury that required five operations.

“I still have the letter,” said Jordan.

Oddly enough, Jordan didn’t let the chance of a lifetime pass her by.

Instead, the South Allegheny School District graduate continued to pursue what she loved most and managed to keep her dream partly alive as an alternate for the now defunct Pittsburgh Maulers and as a former member of the Steel City Angels professional dance team in what would be her last performance at age 20 when she started to endure a series of health issues that led to 13 stomach-related surgeries within the last five years and fibermyalgia.

And while she nearly died on the operating table from her last surgery, it hasn’t stopped Jordan from continuing her three-year stint serving as a volunteer cheerleader coach for the Frazier Youth Football League, which involves 34 girls from Central and Perry Elementary Schools ages seven and eight.

“It helps keep me going…I see so much in their little faces,” said Jordan who moved to the area from Glassport 12 years ago to reside with her mother in Vanderbilt before she married Scott Jordan of Perryopolis.

For some of the league’s parents, Jordan’s dedication to coaching came as a shock when she told them she didn’t have a daughter, but an 8-year-old son named Tyler who has played in the league since age 5.

“He’s my sunshine,” Jordan added.

However, when Jordan wasn’t sure if she would return to coaching this year, several parents indicated their daughters would no longer cheer.

That’s when Tammy Miller, youth football league treasurer, called Jordan to see if she would change her mind.

“I’ve known her for three years and didn’t know her (cheerleading) background until this year,” said Miller.

She described Jordan as an exceptional person.

“She’s very hands-on and is not one to sit on the sidelines and (coach),” Miller said.

Despite a shadow of illnesses that caused her to lose 70 pounds this year, Jordan has never lost faith in God, which Tabatha Myers, her friend of 15 years, said is what has kept her going.

“I’ve never seen a woman so strong,” said Myers, of Martinsburg, W.Va.

Myers, a graduate of Uniontown High School, said she and Jordan met through mutual friends and have managed to strengthen their bond over the years, which now includes Myer’s teenaged daughter, who recently stayed several days with Jordan.

Just as Jordan has taught the girls the motions of each cheer, she too is going through the motions of keeping a strong spirit.

“There are people out there that are worse than me,” said Jordan.

With every surgery that Jordan has encountered though, she has continued to lose a little more strength and can no longer do simple tasks such as lifting a gallon of milk.

“There’s been times when I’ve been down for several days…you never know when it will hit hard,” said Jordan, who was also diagnosed with Epstein Barr Virus that worsens with every trauma her body undergoes.

During her last surgery, Jordan said she developed an infection that entered her bloodstream, and within three days after she was discharged from the hospital with a feeding tube, Jordan found herself on the operating table again – this time fighting for her life.

“The surgeon saved me and that was a blessing,” said Jordan.

Jordan’s sister, Kim Madden, said she is often reminded of her sister by the song, “Calling All Angels” by Train, which was released around the same time that Jordan underwent last year’s life threatening operation.

Not only have Jordan’s surgeries affected her directly, but also her son, who developed a fear of going to the doctor after he began to associate his mother’s hospitalizations with the possibility of her not coming home.

“He wouldn’t leave her side,” said Madden, who resides in Clairton.

Although Madden has her own family, she said there are times she doesn’t see them for two or three days when she is helping her sister.

As Jordan’s illnesses seem to keep progressing, Madden said she has now developed rheumatoid arthritis in her back along with a tumor on her kidneys, which forced her into another brief hospital visit in the last several weeks.

The youth football season came to a close on Oct. 16.