Clara Chantal-Vigneault

"It wasn’t a miracle that I was able to receive the best care. It’s because people chose to donate and help." — Clara

 

Twenty pills a day

Twenty pills, hard to swallow, shape the rhythm of life for Clara, who lives with an autoimmune disease that affects multiple systems in her body. 

At just 11 years old, she travels to the Centre mère-enfant Soleil at CHU de Québec every month for an eight-hour infusion. In eight hours, most children have time to wake up slowly, eat breakfast, go to school, learn French, English and math, play with friends, enjoy a snack and put off their homework for a little while longer. Clara spends those same eight hours lying in a hospital bed, receiving treatment that helps her body fight the disease, drop by drop. 

Clara is nine years old when the fatigue begins. Then come the aches and pains. More and more often, she misses school. What first appears to be a simple virus soon proves to be something much more serious, with finger pain, weight loss, and a growing list of symptoms. 

After multiple trips to the emergency room and a hospital stay, doctors finally found an answer in spring of 2024: mixed connective tissue disease. 

For Clara, the disease causes arthritis, muscle weakness and Raynaud’s syndrome, a condition that affects blood flow to the fingers, causing them to turn white, then blue, when exposed to cold or stress. 

Clara is in pain. Everywhere. All the time. 

She is exhausted and her muscles can no longer keep up. 

"It’s an extremely rare diagnosis, affecting only a few children per million," explain Clara’s mothers. 

Dance as an escape

Intensive treatment and repeated examinations have turned Clara’s life upside down. Her family and her school learn to adapt, finding new ways to support her while keeping her love of dance alive. 

Since 2024, her weeks have been filled with appointments, medication changes and long infusion sessions. Yet even when pain and fatigue keep her home, something remarkable happens when she slips on her ballet slippers. 

Her energy returns.  

When she dances, the hospital fades into the background and so do her limitations. Dance is her lifeline, her escape and her most powerful remedy. 

Then, in October 2025, another devastating blow arrives. One of Clara’s medications is not producing the expected results. Her medical team begins searching for answers. They suspect something is wrong.  

Against all expectations, Clara receives a second diagnosis: muscular dystrophy.  

A degenerative disease whose impact on her strength and muscles remains unpredictable. Suddenly, one question takes over every other thought: "Will I still be able to dance?" 

Moving forward despite it all

Caught between medical advice and the passion that lives inside her, Clara knows she may one day have to reduce her physical activity. But for now, she keeps moving forward, one step at a time. 

Supported by determination, love and family, she can count on her sister, almost a twin, her caring older brother, and her devoted mothers. Together, they have turned her health journey into a shared fight that Clara faces with a wisdom far beyond her years. 

"Your donations and support truly changed Clara’s life, and ours as parents. We feel surrounded by a generous and caring community. It inspires us to give back, too. That’s why Clara chose to become the Enfant Soleil for her region: to spread hope." — Marie and Marie-Ève, Clara’s mothers

Illness has no place in a child’s life. 

– Marie, Marie-Ève, Zoë (10) and Victor (15)