Summer holidays abroad in 2023 turned into a painful ordeal for Billie’s family. Only just arrived at the destination, Billie lost her eyesight. After being rushed to the hospital, a series of tests confirmed the diagnosis: a muscle cell cancer had attacked Billie’s optic nerves, leaving her permanently blind. 

The family was anguished, shocked and rocked by uncertainty by this turn of events. Since Billie reacted well to chemotherapy received abroad, however, the family was repatriated in an air ambulance.

Over the past year, Billie has been followed at the CHU Sainte-Justine, where she received weekly chemotherapy treatments. She had to be anesthetized for each of the 28 radiotherapy treatments she was administered five times a week. 

Charming, curious, with a zest for life and incredible strength of character at only three years old, Billie is without a doubt a go-getter! She started walking at 10 months and skied for the first time at the age of one and a half. She takes ballet classes and will return to swimming, a sport she practiced before her cancer diagnosis, as soon as she can.

Billie has unshakeable determination and a smile on her face when she receives her treatments, which could end in late December 2024 if all goes to plan. After that date, almost at the same time as the 24h 2024, she might be in remission. As Billie would say, “Yahoo!!!!”