About Kamille

I didn’t set out to be a grief speaker.

No one asks for that sort of life.

I’m a mama of three — two grown now, and one still at home. I’m also a cancer widow.

Our family’s struggle began when my handsome hunk of a husband, Clint, was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma — a.k.a. sucky bone cancer. And it shattered my life.

For a time it seemed impossible to be happy. Then in one moment, involving a whole lot of prayer and surrender, I realized I was ruining the precious time we had left with my thoughts and attitude.

I had never been a depressed person and I refused to waste another minute down in the shallows. Although I had previously only run when chased, I laced up my sneakers and started running. Soon I found myself crossing the finish line of over a dozen half marathons and two full marathons. Thirty pounds lighter and full of determination, I learned that life is what you make it.

I couldn’t stop Clint’s diagnosis or save my family from tragedy. But I could rise out of my depression, treat every moment as precious, and run for Clint. So I did.

Still the cancer progressed, and the love of my life passed away two days before his 35th birthday.

There were no days off.

I had three young kids and two stores left at Gardner Village — cancer and finances had already closed my purse and clothing shop — and all of them needed me the next morning. Grief doesn’t clock out. Not for employees, not for managers, and not for owners.

A year and a half later I sold the yarn store to one of my own employees — the rights to the seasonal Halloween shop went with it. I was out of retail entirely.

When my youngest started junior high I went back to work — a job at a day spa in 2023, and in July 2025 I bought it. My fourth business, and the first with a team of my own.

Forward motion is still available.

Kamille Bauer with her husband, Todd Jorgensen

I’m remarried now. Todd Jorgensen took on a widow with three grieving kids and a husband he would never get to meet — and he has never once asked me to stop talking about Clint. That’s its own kind of love, and it’s the proof behind the thing I tell audiences: forward motion is still available to you.

Once I had the courage to be open and honest — focusing on the love, the humor, the memories, and gratitude for gifts amid my trials — I was able to really connect with people, and with God, on a deeper level. That’s what let me lighten other people’s loads.

That’s what I speak about now.

Go through your trial with a smile.

— Kamille Bauer