ORLANDO, Fla. — Competitive cheerleading is not for the weak. Top Gun Revs cheerleader Jordan Humes knows that firsthand.

“Honestly, it’s a lot of physical preparation but also a lot of mental preparation. A lot of people don’t know what we put our bodies through,” said Humes, 23.

It’s constant high-intensity, high energy all out until you get it perfect and Jordan wouldn’t have it any other way, however, the very sport he loves sent him to the hospital a year ago.

“It came to a point where I got really really ill, and I was hospitalized for a week and doctors told me, 'You cannot do this anymore,'" Humes said. "You have to give your body time to adjust to everything."

Humes' body was fighting Crohn’s disease, a rare disease that affects the lining of the digestive tract.

“I had to go through a lot of treatments. I had a blood transfusion, iron treatments — all of that,” Humes said.

It forced him to take a step back and re-evaluate.

“I was conditioned from the age of 13 years old to go and go and go and when I was diagnosed, we had to have the conversation that you have to have limits now,” said Humes.

But he wasn’t ready to give up his passion.

“It’s like something I literally can’t live without,” said Humes.

So instead, he readjusted his lifestyle.

“It’s really important for me to make sure before practice to drink a lot of water. Make sure I’m eating the right way. It depends on a day-to-day basis," Humes said. "Some days with Crohn’s disease, you feel more sick than other days, so making sure I have medication on me just in case. Anything that can get me through the day."

Humes is fighting for what he loves while inspiring his whole team.

“We pride ourselves on leading by example and I feel like Jordan, no matter what he is feeling or what he is going through, he is always leading by example,” said Adrian Butler, Humes' head coach.

“Don’t let something get in the way of your life. Don’t let something like a chronic illness control everything you do. You can’t live your life in fear of what could happen if I get sick again," said Humes. "You just have to take it day by day and step by step. I think so many people don’t do things because they are so afraid of what could happen, but I don’t want to live my life like that."