'Super-Girl' Jadyn Schill, 13, won't let cancer define her
Jadyn Schill may be the most radiated child in Canada and possibly the most positive one
In a room on the eighth floor of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, bright pink sheets line the bed where Jadyn Schill and her friend sit making bracelets and taking selfies. It's a familiar setting for the girl who's become known in these halls as "Super-Girl."
In 2013, Sick Kids dubbed Jadyn the most radiated child in Canada, having received a total of 123 doses of radiation as part of her treatment for cancer. That's the maximum anyone is allowed for life.
"People started calling me "Super-Girl" because I never really gave up," Jadyn told CBC News.
She was first diagnosed when she was five.
"She doesn't really remember not having cancer. This has been her entire life," said her mother, Christie Schill.
No other options
Schill said she first took Jadyn to the hospital in 2008 after she lost movement in the left side of her face. Doctors originally diagnosed her with Bell's Palsy, but her mom had a feeling that something wasn't right. After taking her daughter for an MRI, a tumour was discovered.
Ever since then, Jadyn's had a mixture of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, but those treatments are no longer an option.
Even with her options dwindling, Jadyn is keeping an active and busy schedule. As a Sick Kids patient ambassador, she's constantly taking part in community events and trying to raise awareness for the cause.
"It's important to raise awareness and funding so that one day no child will have to go through what I've gone through," Jadyn said
This past May was her eighth year participating in Meagan's Walk — a community walk that finishes with thousands of participants holding hands to form a giant hug around Sick Kids hospital.
She has also participated in and has been a guest speaker at events such as the CAA Golf Tournament for Sick Kids, Bike for Tykes and her favourite, the Rally for Kids Cancer, where she said she met her "best friend" Kim Coates from Sons of Anarchy.
However, for Jadyn participating means more than simply raising awareness. She said she hopes that her experiences, both the struggles and the triumphs, will inspire other children to keep up the fight.
"When you think you're in the worst times, think what you have and what you don't have," she said. "There's always a positive side.
"My positive side is that there's still more options. It's not like the end of the world."
'Spectacular' attitude
He said that even after her last experimental trial failed, she remained just as hopeful as always.
"We met a few weeks ago to discuss the result of the last treatment … and rather than just having a sort of depressive mood, when we told her we had a new treatment she was jumping," he said.
With no doubts that she can beat cancer again this time, Jadyn is already making plans for the future.
"Once I'm like cancer-free, I just want to go to school like a normal kid and try to get back into sports."