“They said ‘oh you have to be able to walk, you have to be able to do all this fancy stuff’,” Ms Threlfo, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, said. 

“I thought no, I can do this. I’m going to prove you guys wrong.” 

And prove them wrong she did. A video of the 26-year-old competing with her cheer team in the Australian All Star Cheerleading Federation Battle competition at Homebush last weekend has gone viral. It had been viewed by 6.9 million people by late Wednesday. 

The team, Lithium, from Beresfield’s Oxygen All Stars Australia cheerleading centre, claimed first place in the Level 1 All Abilities category in the two-day competition. 

Since the performance, Ms Threlfo has found herself in high demand, with requests for interviews from media all over the world, as more and more people are inspired by her story. 

It has been quite a ride for the University of Newcastle IT student, who only began cheerleading this year. 

“I started to work with my team in April but I started tumbling classes in February,” she said. 

“I didn’t do it for all this. To be a cheerleader you have to be a passionate about it. It’s got to come from you.” 

Ms Threlfo had wanted to be a cheerleader for a long time but it was a combination of being told that she could not do it and watching the cheerleading film Bring It On, that prompted her to act.

“I wasn’t sure how to go about it and I asked a few people and they said ‘you’re in a wheelchair, you can’t’ and I thought no, I can do this,” she said from her Mayfield home. 

“I watched Bring It On and I know you could be a flyer if you are short and I thought I could be a flyer.” 

Her mother Cheryl Threlfo had no idea her daughter had contacted Oxygen All Stars, until she was asked to drive Debbie there.

“She did it all herself and then she came out to me and told me,” Cheryl Threlfo said.

“She’s always talked about it. Her cousin has done it and I thought yeah, yeah OK because I didn’t want her to get hurt.” 

She said her daughter had always had a determined streak.

“If she wants something, she goes for it ... when she was riding a quad bike, my heart was in my mouth,” she said.

Ms Threlfo said her daughter enjoyed horse riding, swimming, quad biking, and now cheerleading.

“If she thinks she can do it, she’ll have a go at it,” she said.

“She’ll put all her effort into it.

“I am so proud of her. Watching her at the competition at the weekend I had tears in my eyes.”

Debbie Threlfo said she had been welcomed as part of the “cheerleading family” since joining Oxygen.

She had high praise for her “fantastic” Lithium teammates – Sarah Noble, Mikayla Dunn and Cooper Daley.

Oxygen owner and coach Courtney Turton said Ms Threlfo had gone far in a short space of time.

“Her drive and determination is why she has progressed so far,” she said.

Admitting to her own “tunnel vision”, Ms Threlfo is already focusing on her next cheerleading goal.

“I’ve got the Australian All Star Cheerleading Federation state comp coming up and then we’ve got nationals in November,” she said.

“And I’m hoping to go international because I really want to get to go overseas with cheerleading.

“So the next stage is getting thrown in the air, that is the next goal for me, to get international and get tossed in the air.”