"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
Friday March 14th and Monday March 17th will be big days. On Friday at 2:30 Korrine will have her pulminary function test (to see if the Chemo had any adverse effects on her lungs) and at 3:30 she will undergo her 3rd CT scan to see the destruction the chemo has done to the cancer.
Monday Korrine will have a hearing test at 9:30 and a kidney function test at 11. We are putting this out today in order for all you angels to gear up and start praying for our fearless leader. Pray that the chemo has done it's job in destroying the cancer within her body. Also pray that the chemo has not created any nasty side effects to Korrine. OK angels. You have some work to do. Pray Hard and LIVESTRONG!
15 comments:
We will do our part. Love and prayers, Joe, Lex and Jennifer Louie
hey korrine,
its korrina botelho.
i will definatly pray hard for you. i hope all goes well and you get a bunch of positive news back on your tests.
love always
korrina botelho
We are praying so hard for you and your family. We are so sure everything will go well!! I know you don't know us. Our daughter Erika goes to Marshall Elementary School- K and has heard your situation and now she asks about you every day. We hope you and your family can join us for lunch soon. Sincerely, Veronica, Eric, Erika and Bianca
Hello Darling!
How are you doing? Hearing or reading good news about you always lifts my spirits way up! I hope all of your tests coming up go very well and I pray you are super healthy soon. See you soon. Yeah! We graduate in less then 3 months. How excited are you?? Because I am pretty pumped about it!
Love, Anja
Hi sweetie...waiting for test results is so hard! Hope you get your results super fast! Keep resting and getting stronger...the other side of chemo is so much better! Love you and your family! I always keep you in prayer...because of His love, Lorri Steer
Hi Korrine,
How cool to read a note from YOU! I'm glad you are feeling well enough to cruise the blog AND leave a love note to all of your fans. I hope you can rest easy and yet stay busy enough not to feel anxious about your results. Beth Moore, one of my favortie Bible Study teachers reminds us that "God promises us a peace like a river, not like a pond." We're praying all four of you enjoy this weekend and the peace He has for you right now. We love all of you and will pray without ceasing.
Hey CutiePie!
I took my girls to the ocean for the weekend, and thought of you. It was so calm and peaceful, yet the sun was smiling on us. Smiles always remind me of you -- you have the greatest smile.
Just read that you had tests run on Friday, and more again tomorrow. You are always on my prayer list, but I'll make sure that some extra prayers are said for you and your family. Keep the faith and know I'm thinking of you!!
Love,
Sue Bakalar
Korrine,
You are always in my prayers! I know all the tests getting pretty tiring but they give the medical team the best info to help get you all healthy. Don't forget to speak up when you know the best way for them to take blood or whatever. You are truly the expert with of all of this now.
When my daughter was on dialysis she knew which techs were better at getting the process started than others... Eventually she wouldn't let one poke her arm because he always went through the vein.
I'll be waiting to hear those POSITIVE test results this week... You are AMAZING, Korrine and continue to INSPIRE us all to LIVESTRONG!
hugs and love, kathy t.
Hi Korrine!!
Just wanted to send you a note and say "HELLO!". Kindle & I are thinking of you and miss seeing you. Hope this week is full of sunshine!
Know we are thinking of you always!
Korrine, I will be praying extra hard for you tomorrow!
Love & Prayers,
Victoria Cooper
Korrine
I woke up this morning and wanted to make sure to tell you that I have such a good feeling about today and all the rest of the days. I have never prayed so hard in my life and along with all the thousands of prayers for you and your family, God surely answers.
Happy St. Paddys Day!!! I love you Korrine
Auntie Marcia and Uncle Bergie
Korrine:
So wonderful to see a note from you, the warrior!
God is working in his clever little ways today..I thought hm-m-m it's been a bit of time since I visited your website and today I did..only to see today is a big day for you! I am praying for you and your family and send positive feelings your way today!Here comes the sun Korrine!!!
We love you! Trish, Jeff and Adam
I hope your tests went alright! Bless you little angel!
Just praying like crazy. Love you all.
Hey CutiePie!
Just thinking about you. Hope the tests went well yesterday and that you are feeling rested and gaining energy every day!
Have a beautiful afternoon!!
Love,
Sue Bakalar
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