Video Report By Alicia Summers, Reporter / Video By CBS News 8
San Diego, Calif. – Feb. 22, 2018 – For 20-year-old Morgan Hill, it’s a dream come true – the chance to meet an Olympic medalist and lifelong hero.
But Hill isn’t your typical fan, she’s a well-known horse champion herself, even though she suffers from a rare genetic disorder.
She flew in from Australia on Wednesday and on Thursday got to spend time with her idol, bronze medal Olympian in dressage, Steffen Peters.
Hill is usually in a wheelchair but when she’s on a horse she says she feels free.
She was 14 years old when she was diagnosed with CDG – a congenital disorder of glycosylation that affects her balance, vision, speech, coordination and health. There is no cure for the disorder.
Dr. Hudson Freeze of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute has been studying CDGs for more than 20 years and hopes to develop a treatment.
In the meantime, Dr. Freeze wanted to help Hill’s dream come true and allow her to talk and train with her favorite Olympian Peters.
She cried when she heard what Dr. Freeze had helped set up for her.
Hill is also in town for a symposium called Rare Disease Day Symposium happening this weekend where Dr. Freeze will be singing and she will be doing a dance.
Peters lives in Carmel Valley and has invited Morgan back to ride with him every day while she’s in town.
