"All I could think of was the Olympics is one year away," Barbara Rodriguez said. "I told myself: 'I will be better. I will go to the Olympics.' "

Her doctors, she said, knew better than to point out that a trans-Atlantic flight was not what they would prescribe for her compromised immune system.

"I think they realized a big part of my positive attitude has to do with being able to go to the Olympics and see Jen skate," Barbara Rodriguez said. "If they told me I couldn't go, I would probably fall into a depression, and what would be the point of that?"

At the Rockefeller Center rink, skaters are instructed to go with the flow. That posed no problem for Rodriguez. Going with the flow has become second nature to her family, which includes her younger brother, Eric.

"Jen's skating has been what has kept her going," Joe Rodriguez said as he watched Barbara watch their daughter skate. "What my wife has gone through with the treatments, I'll be the first to admit it, I don't know if I would be able to handle it. She's a tough cookie."

Barbara Rodriguez sometimes catches her husband staring at her. The concern in his eyes makes her uncomfortable. She does not wish for people to look at her that way.

"I don't mind talking about it or anything," she said, referring to her illness. "But I don't really want it to be the focus of the Olympics for Jen or for me. I don't."

As Rodriguez was posing for photographs on the ice, the rink's recording of "O Come All Ye Faithful" started skipping. Joe Rodriguez did not seem to notice. He was too caught up in the moment.

"This is all gravy," he said. "Rockefeller Center," and then motioning at his daughter on the ice, "watching her. These are blessings we soak up and enjoy."