"Mean Girls" on Broadway tells the story of high school cliques and just how far teenagers will go to be one of the "popular kids."

Actor Stephanie Bissonnette was already popular among her castmates, but when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, she discovered just how much she meant to the entire company.

Through the nearly eight months of surgery, radiation and recovery, her story of determination struck a chord in the Broadway community, and together, they helped her to get back on her feet returning full time to the hit musical.

"I got to go back into the show on October 3, which is National Mean Girls Day, so it felt better than my Broadway debut. It was like coming home," Bissonnette said. "I was looking at the picture, it's the original Broadway cast, it's my family for the past almost three years now. We've been together with the show, doing different incarnations of the show before we even came to Broadway, so we've spent so much time together, they're like my sisters and my brothers. So having them behind me and them going back to the show and having some of the OG's still there and then meeting some of the new characters, it was an exciting night."

Last week, Stephanie performed for the second year in a row with "Mean Girls" in the Thanksgiving Day Parade.