High school students print 3D replica of teacher's tumor

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (KATV) — Two high school students in Hot Springs who were the first people in the state to print a 3D brain tumor are now turning their focus to their teacher.

Madeline Scott and Ella Pace have printed a 3D tumor for "EAST" facilitator John Stokes after he was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer.

It all started in November of 2018, when Madeline noticed a strange mass on Stokes' neck.

"I just recommended that he should look in to it, that it might be more than just a swollen lymph node because of all the procedures that we have seen," she said.

Undoubtedly, Madeline and her classmate Ella Pace have a lot more technological and medical understanding than most teens. The girls have dedicated themselves to the EAST program at Hot Springs World Class High School. Thanks to their knowledge, Stokes believes it would have been much longer until he'd know he had cancer.

"I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the learning that took place on their initial first project probably had a very significant role in my prognosis and eventually my cure," Stokes said.

Just like previous cancer patients the girls have helped, they're now helping Stokes grasp what's going on inside his body.

"We usually don't get to see the back end of what it is that the students are interacting with us. But this is firsthand. I get to see it, I get to live it, and I get to be it," he added.

Madeline and Ella say it's all about cancer patients feeling empowered when holding an exact replica of their tumor. And with Stokes, it's not different.

"Mr. Stokes is really the father-figure in a lot of people's lives. We go home and we see our actual dads and we come here and we see our EAST dad," Ella said.

Madeline and Ella have gotten so good at creating and printing 3D replicas over the course of last year that they've even turned it into a business: "EMMI", which stands for Ella and Madeline Medical Innovations.