AUBURN — Keegan Moreau is getting pretty famous these days, but don’t try telling her that. She’ll just roll her eyes in that teenage way and tell you it’s no big deal.

But it kind of is.

The 15-year-old will appear at the end of “Dolphin Tale 2,” the latest offering from Disney which happens to open today in this part of the country.

“It’s not like I’m the star of the movie,” Keegan says.

Her modesty is admirable, but Keegan is no stranger to the limelight. She runs track, she skis, she plays soccer, and, born without the lower part of her right arm, she serves as a mentor to other children with limb loss.

Now she’ll appear in a major motion picture, and it all began with an aquatic mammal.

Her road to stardom began in Clearwater, Fla., where Keegan and her family were visiting an aquarium most known for its famous inhabitant, Winter, a dolphin with a prosthetic tail.

Visiting with others from Camp No Limits, Keegan was one of a few allowed to go down to the platform for an up-close view of Winter. The bonding began almost at once.

“I put my prosthetic arm in the water,” Keegan says, “and the dolphin came up and touched it with her nose. It was so cool. It was like she was giving it a kiss.”

Meanwhile, Disney was there filming for the movie and their cameras captured the encounter between teenager and dolphin. Of course, that didn’t mean Keegan’s part was going to make it all the way through the editing process.

“They had us sign a release,” says Keegan’s mother, Missy. “But they told us that the scene might get cut.”

Until last week, nobody assumed that Keegan was about to appear on the silver screen. Then Missy got a call from a mother of a Camp No Limits teen in Missouri. That family had the opportunity to screen “Dolphin 2” early and, guess what?

“She said, ‘I saw Keegan twice,'” Missy says of that conversation. “That’s how we found out.”

In the film, Keegan doesn’t appear alongside Morgan Freeman, the star of the movie. Her part comes at the end, in a portion filmmakers use to educate their audience. Millions are expected to see the movie worldwide.

Keegan may say it’s not a big deal, but in reality, she knows better. For one, it helps draw attention to the good things that are done by Camp No Limits, a nationwide network for young people with limb loss. And both Keegan and her family care very much about the camp.

“She’s been going since she was 5,” Missy says. “Now she goes more as a mentor for other kids. Camp No Limits has been really amazing as far as what they’ve done for Keegan.”

Her relationship with the camp, and with the children it serves, is one Keegan takes very seriously. Instead of pursuing a career in acting — as you might expect from one who has had a taste of it — she plans to go to school to study occupational therapy.

“Hopefully, someday, I can run the whole camp,” she says.

When you sit down and talk to Keegan, that doesn’t seem like a stretch.

The Edward Little High School sophomore was born without the lower part of her arm and was fitted for a prosthetic at six months old. Every now and then she becomes bitter about her situation, she says, but that bitterness doesn’t last long. When it happens, she thinks about Josh Kennison, a young man from South Paris who was born without lower arms and legs, and who has excelled athletically in spite of it.

“I think about that,” Keegan says, “and then I think, ‘You know what? It could be a lot worse.'”

Keegan’s appearance in a Disney film is impressive until you pull back and look at the rest of her life, at which point it seems like just one more achievement in a long line of them. She’s bright and she seems earnestly interested in helping other kids to contend with the disadvantages of limb loss. If mingling with a celebrity dolphin is part of that, so be it.

“She does a lot of work with the younger kids,” says her mother, Missy. “And Winter is a great tool for her to use.”

The dolphin also serves as an inspiration, Keegan says. After all, Winter has overcome adversity, too.

“Usually, when a dolphin loses its tail, it can’t survive,” she says.

So Friday is the big debut of “Dolphin 2” and the Moreau family will surely be at a local theater to watch. The question is, will Keegan go with her family? Or will she be a typical teen and choose to hang out with her friends, instead?

“The debate is on,” Missy says. “I think the friends are going to win.”

Confronted with this question, Keegan offers another eye roll and a slight smile.

“I haven’t decided yet,” she says.

Hey, she’s a star. She’ll decide when she’s good and ready.

mlaflamme@sunjournal.com

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