"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
What a great event. Sean and I were glad to have participated in it. Even though it was 105 degrees out, the relayers still came . On a personal note, We are very appreciative of the people who came up to me and told me how much they are thinking and praying for Korrine. Others I talked to told me of their heroic stories of how they beat cancer and some,like Sean and I, said that this was the first time that they had participated in Relay For Life and will continue to do so in the future.. I also was driven to tears when a couple of young girls handed me a Tupperware dish of money they said they had raised for Team KC at their neighborhood lemonade stand. I was balling like a baby. It was great to see the Livermore Community get together at this event. Sean and I were proud to represent Dana and Korrine who were at the hospital at Kaiser Oakland. We want to thank our family and friends who went in honor of Korrine and others who went in honor of their loved ones to fight this horrible disease.
Thank you LEAH BALL and MARCEL ORTHODONTICS for all your support and your incredible hard work at raising money for the American Cancer Society and RELAY FOR LIFE. Thank you to all who participated and raised money to find a CURE. "HOPE" to find a "CURE"
6 comments:
I was so happy to read that the "Relay for Life" event was such a success!
How kind and generous of the girls that raised money for Team KC at their lemonade stand! I can only imagine how moving it is to see so many people that are pulling together to fight cancer, and to support Korrine in her personal battle against the disease.
I pray for Korrine every day, and although I have never met you all, I remember you each in my prayers for peace, healing, and strength through this journey.
Today I am praying for Korrine to regain the ability and desire to eat and drink. I pray that her body is responding to the chemo treatments with every cancer cell vanishing, while her healthy cells thrive. I pray that any pain and nausea are subsided, and that she can begin on the road to recovery with strength and peace in God's plan for her life.
I pray for your family and for Sean, that you can all find joy in the summer months, and that Korrine can soon come home and recover in her own bed, surrounded by those she loves.
I thank you for sharing your journey with us, for all of us who have never met you, but feel we too want to be a part of Korrine's healing process through prayer.
With thoughts and prayers for you today,
Denise Kofford and Family
We can't put into words what an awesome experience it was at Relay for Life. We participated to support Korrine and Team KC, but it was such a wonderful opportunity to support all others who have been touched by cancer. We had such a fun (altho' hot!) day! I had an opportunity to walk a few hours in the middle of the night, and I enjoyed the peacefulness of it all. I prayed so much for you during that time and it was awesome. We have wonderful memories of the day and night - from the great speeches, the luminaria ceremony, camping out on the football field, seeing Korrine's Uncle Mark walking for a few hours early Sunday morning, the Crazy Hairdos the girls in our campsite did for others,the unending walking of the Team KC baton for 24 straight hours, pizza at midnight, and of course seeing little Katherine giving Matt her lemonade sales money for Korrine which spoke volumes of how Korrine's journey has touched people of ALL ages! This will be the first of many years we will be a part of Relay for Life and Team KC!!!
Love, Betsy and Emily
Matt and Sean,
Now I am bawling like a baby too! Your family brings out the best in so many and you deserve all of the wonderful things that people are doing in Korrine's honor. How proud you must have felt at Relay for Life and how proud we are of you both! I am sure it was hot, but you toughed it out just like Korrine is doing.
Way To Go! I hope to join you next year!
Love,
Cindy Vance
I just have to tell you guys a story. My oldest baby, Melinda (now 32) is actually at John Muir hospital because she has a severe flare up of her Chron's and a bleeding ulcer that decided to show is ugly face shortly after she arrived in California for her visit. Her nurse came in on Friday and there sits Melinda crying uncontrollably. Nurse is SO worried. Are you in pain, Mrs. Ryan??? What can I do??? Melinda says "no. but I wanted to go to this for Korrine tomorrow and now I'm here instead!!!" Nurse looks at the blogspot, calls in the other duty nurses and now you have the nurses in Melinda's unit pulling for you too! We SO wish we could have been there!
The Hoagland Clan
Just a quick note to let you know that it was a privilge to participate!! Cassidy and I are already talking about next year and looking forward to Korrine, Dana, Sean and Matt and all of the Croghans being there next year. Matt...you have a whole year to brush up on your hearts game!!
-Cindy Sherman
Korrine, Sean, Dana and Matt,
On Tuesday, I got this call on my cell phone while I was at work. The gal told me I had won a raffle from the Relay event in Livermore the weekend before.
As I'd been walking around the track that evening, a gal called out that they were selling tickets for a raffle. They had a basket full of items... and I'll be honest, I didn't even pay much attention to what was there. I just really liked that she was TRYING HARD to sell those tickets to raise money for the ACS.
I was so surprised when she called. We made arrangements so that I could drive out and pick the basket up earlier tonight. It is awesome. It has lotions, soaps, candles, towels, a beautiful angel ornament, and much more (even a toothbrush and toothpaste). It was really cool.
This weekend, I'll check out the Relay in Rohnert Park. My brother and his wife are very involved with it and have been for the past 4 years or so. You know I'll be thinking of you while I'm there!
I hope you are feeling stronger each day!
hugs and much love, kathy t.
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