SMU senior Bella Bernardini is living a normal life, which is something that she and her parents never expected. At the age of 18, Bella was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor.
“I was working out one day at home, I came down to talk to my dad and the next thing I knew, I was having a seizure,” Bernardini said.
She has been in remission for 2 years now and is now giving back to the hospital that helped her. She is working with Dance Marathon, which is a club on campus that raises money for the Children’s Miracle Network.
“When I came to SMU, I was really looking for something that would allow me to give back,” Bernardini said. “When I found out that there was already an organization on campus that was working to help the hospital that was helping me, I knew I had to get involved.”
“Bella is kind of my right hand person,” Amanda LaBell, Dance Marathon president, said. “I text her about everything related to dance marathon when there are big decisions.”
Bella’s favorite thing about dance marathon…
“Being able to meet the families and the children who have gone through children’s health,” Bernardini said.
Bella is someone that the members look to as a leader and her passion for dance marathon’s philanthropy inspires others to get involved too.
“She had gone through something that we are fighting for, something that can be so hard on kids and was able to come through it and have this attitude about helping others,” Avery Kout, Dance Marathon member, said.
This year… Dance Marathon hopes to beat their roughly $42,000 total from 2018 and Bella is helping by raising as much as she can. She hopes to match her total from the past 2 years.
“If I can raise $15,000, I’ll be very pleased with myself,” she said.
Bella wants to continue her involvement with children’s health and even after graduation. For now… she just wants the Dance Marathon’s message to reach as many people as possible.
For SMU-TV… this is May Bolte.
