Karina Moreira and Gisele Bündchen
Courtesy Karina Xavier
Bündchen showed up at 15-year-old Karina Moreira’s home in Malden, just outside Boston, on Thursday. The teen was home with her family when the famous supermodel popped by for a surprise visit.
“I was just getting ready to go to the hospital, and she came in my door to my room, and said ‘Hi!’ and gave me a hug,” said Moreira, who moved to America from her native Brazil at age 3. “I was shocked. I didn’t jump or scream or anything, but I said ‘Oh, my God’ and gave her a hug.”
Moreira previously met Bündchen through a Jimmy Fund event, but she had no idea the supermodel would show up at her bedroom door, thanks to a plan hatched by Karina’s mom, Daniele, and Bündchen ‘s sister Patricia, who corresponded via social media.
“She brought beauty products for me, and I used them to do makeup on her,” said Moreira. “I did her makeup and she did mine. She’s really good.”
Karina Moreira and Gisele Bündchen
Courtesy Karina Xavier
The teen is currently on a hiatus from ninth grade to receive treatment for osteosarcoma, which returned behind her knee and on her lung in November, after being in remission since the summer of 2012. While getting treatment at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, she maintains her own makeup blog, called Chic by Karina.
“[Girls] look in the mirror and they don’t think they’re beautiful, and I just want to help girls see the inner beauty,” said Moreira, who chronicled her time with Bündchen on Facebook and Instagram, about her blog posts.
So what advice did Bündchen give the teen?
“She said that you have to be really positive, and I agree with her,” said Moreira.
And clearly, the experience was significant to Bündchen, too. On her own Instagram account, the supermodel wrote: “It was a pleasure to see you again Chic by Karina. You are a warrior, an inspiration of positivity and courage, I will be praying for you. Sending you love and light always.”