VANESSA HIGGINS-NOGAREDA
Vanessa Higgins-Nogareda will make history at Sheraton Celebrity Dance Off 2019 with her baby bump.
“I will be dancing at seven months,” said Higgins-Nogareda, a registered nurse and a regular Dance Off attendee.
“I have never witnessed a pregnant lady dancing, unless it was so early you didn’t know it. We’ve had to make some choreography adjustments,” she said with a laugh.
Higgins-Nogareda learned she was pregnant after she made the commitment to dance.
She said queasiness while practising spins was a challenge last fall, and her increasing weight has been an added load on her professional dance partner, Leo Sato.
“It’s pretty funny. People are like — what are you going to do for your costume? It will just have to be stretchy.”
Higgins-Nogareda, who is a medical specialty registered nurse at Red Deer’s hospital, said she didn’t hesitate to help raise money for Friends of Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.
She is also a co-organizer for the Time is Muscle event that raises money and awareness for cardiac care in central Alberta.
“I’m really passionate about our hospital.”
She said as a Dance Off participant, she has met many generous people who care about the hospital, and she has always been a fan of the event.