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By NATHAN HOWELL | Special to the Reporter

HELENA – “I know staying at home and not seeing your friends is tough right now, but doing that is helping kids like me stay alive,” explained Pippa Daspit in her entry to the Helena Virtual Festival and Social Distancing Talent Show.

Pippa’s video features her singing a parody of the classic “Part of Your World” from the Little Mermaid, cleverly rewritten by her mother Kelly to relate to how the public is feeling right now, while her father Tommy filmed the video.

“I just want to go out with my friends, out to the park. Out where they walk, out where they run, out where they stay all day in the sun. Wondering free, wish I could be part of that world,” she sings in the video.

Tommy Daspit explained that his daughter has a condition called System Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (SJIA), also known as Still’s disease. It is a rare auto inflammatory disease that causes Pippa’s immune system to go into overdrive, which can lead to extremely high fevers.

“The treatment is high levels of steroids,” he explained. “The big fear we have is the medication essentially turns off her immune system. Without it, her system will run rampant and cause high fevers and destroy the other organs.”

Due to this, Pippa is at a very high risk factor if she were to contract COVID-19. Her condition can cause a severe immune reaction known as a cytokine storm ,which can be fatal, and COVID-19 is also known to cause these reactions, which puts her at even more risk than the average person.

Tommy said that he understands the frustration people are dealing with not being able to work, as he is currently not working or collecting any income. However, he said that it is more important to follow guidelines to help stop the spread of COVID-19 to protect people most at risk like Pippa.

As of Wednesday morning, April 22, Pippa’s video had 447 likes and 116 shares in the talent show’s contest. Her parody video featured her singing and acting to create a light-hearted way to share an important message.

The Helena Virtual Festival is a contest based around showing off a talent while encouraging people to stay at home, the winner will be decided based on which video gets the most likes. Pippa’s video has already generated more than 400 likes at this time.