WNBA star Elena Delle Donne shares spotlight with her disabled sister in new Gatorade digital short

Elena Delle Donne has always been protective of her sister Lizzie. Yet when Gatorade approached her to do a commercial with Lizzie, who is blind, deaf, and has cerebral palsy, Delle Donne didn’t hesitate to say yes.

The 2-plus minute short “For the Wind” that debuted Friday on the internet shows how the siblings communicate through hand over hand sign language. The reigning WNBA MVP says how wind itself plays a part in her life.

It’s been a rough week for Delle Donne. She had surgery on her injured right thumb and is recovering in Chicago. There was also a leak of her health records after a hack into the WADA database that the agency says Russia is to blame for.

Filming the short with her sister was important to her.

“It’s put so much in perspective,” Delle Donne said. “I can talk about her all I want, but until you see the way she interacts with not just me, but my family as well, it’s a really powerful thing to share that with everyone.”