Elyna Clements has always been an active kid. The nine-year-old resident of Camanche, Iowa, enjoys gym class, reading on her tablet, and adding to her collection of squishmallows.

Now in fourth grade, Clements will step into Kinnick Stadium on October 28th as the Kid Captain for Iowa football’s Homecoming game against Northwestern.

In 2021, Clements was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma — a rare type of brain tumor that affects only 0.5 to two people per million every year. Before her diagnosis, Clements’ parents, Stephen and Erika Clements, said she was a healthy kid.

“She was growing,” Erika said. “She was healthy. She was active. This tumor kind of takes over the pituitary gland, so there are some kind of indicators, but she had none of those.”

Elyna’s first symptoms — painful and watery eyes — appeared in early winter 2020. By Christmas break, she began to complain of headaches. Around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, she also began to feel disoriented.

Erika then scheduled an appointment with an eye doctor for her daughter. When she pulled Elyna from school for the visit, she expected her to return before the end of the day.

During the appointment, her doctor noticed a problem with her optic nerve and immediately sent Elyna to her local hospital for an MRI. The doctors discovered a mass on her brain and sent her to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

Two days later, she was in surgery.

“When I heard I was going to have surgery, I was scared,” Elyna said. “I just thought I would go to the eye doctor and get some eye drops then just go back to school, but it was way different. I was nervous and a little confused. I didn’t know what was wrong.”

The operation Elyna underwent to have the tumor removed took nearly nine hours. Before the surgery, Elyna and her family knew she had already lost vision in her right eye. After the procedure, she also lost peripheral and lower vision in her left eye.

“We’re certainly thankful for having the university hospital this close for us and for catching it as early as we did to help maintain some vision,” Stephen said.

Following the surgery, Elyna spent fifteen days in recovery and celebrated her eighth birthday in the hospital. Afterward, she returned for frequent visits and has remained tumor-free since the operation. She celebrated the one-year anniversary of the procedure at an Iowa women’s basketball game with her family this past January.

“I’m doing good now,” Elyna said. “It’s still hard every once in a while to see less than other people, but I feel like I’m doing good in school… And I have a lot of friends who like to help me and really care about me.”

The Clements family learned she would be the Kid Captain of the Homecoming game in May. The night before the game, her family plans to have a small tailgate and explore Iowa City, including shopping, eating ice cream, and buying squishmallows.

Elyna is especially excited to root for her new favorite player, fullback Monte Pottebaum. During Kids’ Day at Kinnick, she walked out of the Hawkeyes’ tunnel with Pottebaum.

“We really appreciate everything, the time and the effort that was put into this program because it really means a lot to the kids and their families,” Erika said.