"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting."
Mother Teresa
Cancer stripped her of everything including her life but it could not steal away God's LOVE, PEACE and the JOY that radiated through her. Korrine never stopped SMILING!
Korrine Lannie Croghan
Korrine Croghan was a vivacious 14-year-old girl who lived all of her life in Livermore, CA. She had a love for animals, sports, and most of all, family. Korrine was a straight “A” student while attending Mendenhall Middle School and was working hard in her first trimester at Granada High. She was a great friend to many and was everything that a brother, mother and father could ask for in a daughter. Korrine was the type of girl who would greet you with a wide smile and look into your eyes and truly would want to know how you were doing
Korrine & Cancer
On December 20th, 2007, Korrine was diagnosed with Choriocarcinoma with a germ cell element. Choriocarcinoma is a very rare type of cancer in teenage girls and inflicts less than 200 nationwide each year. Although the cancer started in her left ovary, the cancer had spread to her right ovary, lungs and liver. After the removal of a cantaloupe sized tumor in her left ovary on December 21st of 2007, Korrine, endured 10 months of intense chemotherapy designed for adult men.
During the course of her treatment, Korrine suffered many complications. In early April of 2007, her liver began to bleed. After staying at Kaiser Oakland for almost two weeks, Korrine was transfered to UCSF and spent a month in the intensive care unit. The doctors at UCSF Medical Center were finally able to stop her bleeding liver, but, not before it filled her abdomen with 5 liters of blood that had to be drained via a tube inserted into her stomach. On top of that, both of Korrines’ lungs collapsed while undergoing a CT scan that almost took her life. Because of that, 2 liters of fluid needed to be drained off of her lungs with the use of another drainage tube. Throughout her treatment Korrine needed numerous blood and platelet transfusions. She had nosebleeds that lasted an hour on several occasions. At one point, she had 18 intravenous tubes running through her body filled with anti-bacterials, anti-fungals, nutrition, painkillers and chemotherapy. Korrine miraculously made it through those tough days at UCSF and returned to Kaiser Hospital in Oakland. She was finally stable and was released to go home in late June. Just as things were starting to look up for her, she suffered septic shock in July that forced her to go back into intensive care at Kaiser in Santa Clara for 2 weeks.
Korrine returned home in late July and went through imaging scans to see if the cancer had disappeared. The scans always came back good, but not great. In an effort to kill and stop the remaining cancer cells, she underwent an emergency round of chemotherapy in early September. Unfortunately, it did kill the remaining cancer and her doctors had run out of options.
Korrine spent her last days at home with her family reading books and loving on her cats and dog. She passed away quietly, at home, on October 27th, 2008. Through it all, Korrine had a positive attitude and never gave up or complained. Many consider Korrine a hero.
Team KC
The Team KC website was originally started as a way to encourage, educate, raise awareness, and keep friends and family informed with accurate information on Korrine's treatment and progress. Family, classmates, friends, community members, and complete strangers rallied to support Korrine and her family through her fight against Choriocarcinoma. We were amazed by the amount of support we received, and it is now our desire to give back. In March, 2009, Team KC became an official nonprofit by joining forces with Kaiser Foundation Hospital. All monies raised by Team KC will directly benefit pediatric cancer patients and their families. All monetary contributions are tax deductible.
Our Mission: To help improve the quality of life of pediatric cancer patients and their families. We wish to supply children with fun activities, toys and anything else that will brighten and better their lives. Monies will also be used to help parents pay for bills and defray the costs of gas, food and lodging that go along with caring for a child with cancer.
Stay Positive, LIVESTRONG & Welcome to Team KC!
*This is the official Team KC website and the only website approved by the Croghan family. Please do not use content, images, or video from this site without permission. This is an effort to respect the family's privacy and ensure that all content is accurate and approved. Thank you for your cooperation.
A Note From Korrine (written after her 4th round of Chemo)...
Hello everyone! It's me, Korrine. I just wanted to take a
moment to thank each and every one of you for supporting me through emails,
visits, food, gifts, and most importantly, prayer. Without it, I probably
wouldn't have made it this far. Anyways, on a happier note, I am happy to
announce that I am feeling very good. This last round of chemo hit me pretty
hard, but I think that it is more exiting to end things with a big BANG! I will
try to start writing things for the blog now that my chemo therapy is over, but
until then, just know that I love every single one of you and I am always
thinking about my family, friends, and even the people who I've never met
before. Thanks for joining my battle and for making this experience "The
Experience of a Lifetime." LIVESTRONG! And stay positive.
Korrine Lannie Croghan
We would like to take up some space on the blog in order to thank each and every one of the members of Team KC for a great night Saturday night . Just saying “Thank You” often times does not seem to be enough. We’ll tell you something though, Korrine is going to do great things with the donations and the prayers that have been coming her way.
Thanks to the players Saturday night. Even if you went out early, we hope you had a good time. Thanks to the people who donated items for the auction and the prizes. There was some great stuff to win and you made it happen. Thanks to the people at the Palomares Café for giving up their place for Korrine. You are so kind. To the people who simply donated money that night ( and during other times too) we want to thank you for your generosity and love. Many members of Team KC were not able to make it to the tournament but have been with Korrine since her diagnosis. We can tell you that these past couple of months would have been a lot harder without all of you. A big thanks to Trevor and Tristen Croghan for organizing the whole event. We know it took up time in your lives and we love you guys dearly.
Sometimes the problem we have with thanking individual people is that we are afraid we will forget someone. We need everyone to know that each act of kindness and compassion that has come Korrine’s way has not gone unnoticed by us. We actually sat down one night to start to write thank you cards but stopped because we realized it was an impossible task. Early on we received some sage advice. It went like this: You will show your appreciation for the kindness shown to you by helping someone else out when they need it. That is what we plan on doing.
It was great to see the large number of people who came out to the tournament. We saw family and friends that we see often but we also had some surprise visits from friends we haven’t seen in a while.
What was really humbling for us were the people who came up and said “ You don’t know us, but we came to support Korrine” That was awesome. Team KC is awesome!
Team KC is not just about beating this disease. It’s about helping others. It’s about compassion, kindness and faith.
We truly believe that cancer hates goodness. Maybe that is why it picked Korrine. Too bad for cancer though because it picked the wrong person. Korrine is on the front line taking the hits but she has her team of angels arming her with tremendous strength and faith. We’re winning the battles but we have a ways to go yet. March the 5th will mark Korrine’s fourth round of chemo. Mark it on your calendars and armor up Angels!
We Love You
Matt, Dana, Korrine and Sean
7 comments:
What a huge support group of love is out there for your entire family
Wow! We are praying for you daily, and want you to stay well so you can go into round 4 like the mighty warrier you have been Korrine.
The beautiful weather is a sign of the new beginnings for you and your family..
we love you all so much!
Trish, Jeff and Adam
We're sorry to have missed the poker tourney (looked like lots of fun), but so glad it went well. We'll be "with you in spirit" during Round 4 of your chemo, Korrine. Keep up the strong fight! Sean, you look good with a shaved head!
Love and prayers,
The McNairs
Hey Korrine!!! I am sorry I couldn't make it to the poker tournament, but I'm so happy to see it was a HUGE success!!!! I miss you so much and heard that Jaclyn saw you Wednesday. I'm so jealous, you're like a movie star!!!
Well, I love you Korrine, we're gearing up for your 4th round!
I love you. GO TEAM KC!!
Alex Accornero :)
Thank You to "LIVERMORE SMOKE GIRLS SOFTBALL' for supporting Korrine and allowing Matt and Sean Croghan to throw out the first pitch. Thank you for the bracelets that say "LIVERMORE SMOKE SUPPORTS KORRINE CROGHAN" We support all of You! We will be watching you this season. Thank you for all the great years Korrine played for you and for allowing her to sing the National Anthem in the past on opening day. We love all of you.
LiveSTRONG AND Play Hard!
The Croghan Family
Hi Korrine,
I hope you've had a good week and the headaches got better. I'm sure it is hard to think about another round of chemo coming up... but remember that it is doing its job and you are a warrior! You are such an inspiration to everyone!
Great pictures from the poker night. I like the idea that it will be an annual event. I just don't think that the Palomares Cafe will be big enough for everyone next year. When they all see those picture and the fun we had... more people will want to go.
Sending much love and positive thoughts your way.
hugs and love, kathy t.
Happy Sunday beautiful Croghans!
You have been in my thoughts and prayers, and I'm warrior ready, as I know you are. Keep up the positive thoughts and know that we're all right here behind you!!
Thank YOU for being who you are, and letting us love you.
Hugs,
Sue Bakalar
Hi Croghan Family,
Just checking in and wanted to let you know we too are still praying and will continue without ceasing and in everything give thanks-
It's obvious that it's not just Korrine fighting, but mom, dad and brother are right there, along with an entire community. Thank you for reminding us to be transparent and allowing other the privilage of helping and serving you in any small way possible. Blessings and love from our family to ALL of yours-
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