Mikayla Lange's dad who’s deployed overseas made his daughter's trip to a cheerleading competition special by sending her a surprise cheer-filled video of a routine by his fellow National Guardsmen.
Mikayla Lange, 9, a member of the Koach All-Star Cheerleader and Tumbling squad in Ankeny, Iowa attended a send-off reception before traveling to their national competition when the other fathers of cheer members did a special routine at the event, WHO-TV reported.
Her father, Sgt. First Class Robert Lange, wasn’t there because he's serving in the Middle East as a member of the 248th Aviation Support Battalion of the 67th Troop Command, Fox News reported.
After the other fathers finished their humorous cheering routine, everyone's attention turned to Mikayla.
"For those that may not know, little Mikayla's dad is deployed, so he could not be here today," Ashley Bailey told the send-off audience, per WHO-TV. "So we wanted you to feel special and all of those dads are now your dad."
After each father handed Lange an American flag and a big bouquet of flowers, her father appeared on a large video screen with his Iowa National Guard unit with a routine of their own from overseas.
"Hey, Mikayla! I'm sorry I can't be there with you, but I can't wait to get home and see you," Robert Lange said on the video before the unit did their own routine as Mikayla cried.
"At first, I was bawling my eyes out and then ... I looked up at the screen and my dad was doing cartwheels," Mikayla Lange told ABC News. "It probably took him a month to learn [it.]"
ABC News said the family had been apart for seven months while Robert Lange completed his second tour of duty overseas, making the send-off video extra special.
Robert Lange's effort for his daughter won over many on social media.
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