Just a few months before Thanksgiving, 11-year-old Camille was the picture of childhood — full of laughter, energy, and love for animals. She was the kind of girl who brightened every room, who believed that kindness and imagination could make the world a little better.

But in late 2023, her world began to change.

It started quietly — headaches that came and went, mornings where she struggled to get up, sudden spells of nausea that no one could explain. Her mom, Jenna, thought it might be stress or perhaps a virus that wouldn’t quit. But then, one morning, Camille’s leg began to jerk in a strange way, and Jenna’s heart sank. Something was wrong.

On the morning of Camille’s 11th birthday, the family woke ready to celebrate. Instead, within hours, they were rushing to St. Louis Children’s Hospital, desperate for answers. What they learned that night would change their lives forever.

Camille had medulloblastoma — a cancerous tumor deep in her brain.

That same night — her birthday — Camille was admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Her doctors worked quickly to relieve the dangerous pressure on her brain, and the next morning, she underwent surgery to remove the tumor. It was a success, but recovery was brutal. Camille experienced delirium, hallucinations, and even moments where she didn’t recognize her own mother.

Still, she fought through it — one long, painful day at a time.

After several weeks, she finally went home with a treatment plan that included radiation and a full year of chemotherapy. The side effects were harsh: weight loss, fatigue, vision problems. Yet through it all, Camille refused to lose her spark. She laughed, joked with her nurses, and even found ways to make her treatment days brighter.

When the hospital’s Medical 3D Printing Center created a 3D model of her tumor for surgical planning, Camille decided to give it a name: “Regina George.”
Like the character from Mean Girls, she said with a smirk, “She started all the bad things.”

That little act of humor turned into healing. Camille brought the model to school and bravely stood before her classmates, explaining what she’d been through. It wasn’t easy, but she wanted them to understand — to see that cancer doesn’t mean defeat. That courage can look like a girl standing in front of her friends, holding the very thing that once tried to take her life.

For her mom, holding that same 3D tumor was overwhelming — part shock, part closure. It was the first time she could truly look at the thing that had upended their lives and say, “We beat you.”

Now, Camille is nearing the end of her treatment. She’s focusing on physical and occupational therapy, rebuilding her strength, and dreaming about the future — one that includes family vacations, laughter, and maybe, one day, a world where no child has to face what she did.

Her journey was made possible by the compassion and care of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital team, and the generosity of donors who fund programs like the 3D Printing Center and Child Life Services — the people who turned Camille’s fear into understanding, and her pain into purpose.

When asked what superpower she’d choose if she could have one, Camille said softly, “To talk to animals.”

But maybe she already has a superpower — one that doesn’t need magic.
Because Camille has something even stronger: the power to inspire, to heal, and to keep going — no matter what.

And as she looks toward her future, one truth is clear —
for Camille, the limit does not exist.