Poinciana, FLA – Hot morning with the sun blazing down on the track at Liberty High School. All you hear is the birds chirping and the sound of shoes smacking the surface.

Karissa Nieves, 25, finishes her workout with a 1,500-meter run with a teammate. A look of determination overtakes her face. It quickly shifts to a smile when she says she’s feeling “really good.”

Was she born to run?

“Oh yeah.”

Hardware suggests just that. Karissa won gold in the 800m run at the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle. To her Osceola County Special Olympics teammates, she’s a rock star.

“She is awesome, amazing and she is the sweetest person,” said Christina Fernandez. “She’s a great teammate.”

Her head coach Larry Shapiro sees her as a guiding light.

“She’s out here doing things that gives her parents pride,” Shapiro said. “She is a normal person to them in that regard. She can do things. She dances. She does this. She does that. That just gives them the warmest best feeling a parent can have.”

So good it’s hard for them to stay away.

“Come on you can’t throw it past me,” jokes Nelson Nieves to athletes training for the softball throw. His smile matches his daughter’s as he coaches and motivates her fellow teammates.

On the track, he plays dad more than coach. That’s perfectly fine with him.

“I get all excited and she puts out 150% effort.”

For Karissa’s mother, Virgin, watching her do what she loves is destiny.

“Well I feel proud of her. She accomplished so much.”

According to doctors, the girl born to run should have never been. During Virgin’s pregnancy, Karissa was diagnosed with microcephaly. It’s a neurological condition that affects brain development and head size. She was advised to get an abortion.

“Won’t walk. Won’t eat. Won’t talk but we didn’t listen,” Virgin said. “I decided to have her and she’s been a blessing.”

A blessing. A champion. An inspiration.

“I would like to see that doctor now and show him,” Virgin said. “You told me to get an abortion and look at her. I’m so proud of her.”

As her workout, the Nieves family walks one cool down lap around the track. Nelson says not only is her daughter a champion, but she’s an example.

“They’re just like us. They’re wired different than we are and we are wired different than they are. That’s what Special Olympics is about. Inclusion.”

Karissa was born to run. This is a race she will never run alone.

“I love them so much,” she says. “I always hear them cheering me on.”

Karissa will compete in both the 1,500 and 3,000m runs at the USA Games next month in Orlando.