(CNN) Parents are usually proud of their children when they take their first steps, but for Lovely Johnson, it made her daughter her hero.

Johnson's 6-year-old daughter, Love, took her first steps ever last week. Love has cerebral palsy, a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture.

She shocked herself and her mother when she decided to try walking without her walker and braces.

"This moment felt like a dream come true," Johnson told CNN on Monday. "I looked at her the way I looked at her when I gave birth to her. My heart was racing. I saw how excited my daughter was, and I knew a new chapter was about to begin."

For the first three years of Love's life, the family said her doctor thought she was just developing a little behind schedule. When she was 4 years old, however, they learned she had cerebral palsy. Then last year, she was given a wheelchair and a walker.

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