"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
Words can not even begin to express how much we miss Korrine. I finally went into her room on 7/6/09 and opened up the door and window and cleaned it and made it look beautiful again. I could not do it without the help of my good friend Jane. I have decided to keep every little thing as every little thing brings back a wonderful memory.
We will be posting this weekend about all the things we have been doing in honor of our daughter and to help other children with cancer.
All Our Love and Appreciation,
Stay Positive and LiveStrong,
Dana and Matt Croghan
9 comments:
I'm so sorry you had to do that task...it's something no parent should have to do. We miss her, too, but we place hope in the true fact that you will see her again. Korrine was an amazing girl!
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"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.
He said to me: 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.'" (Revelation 21:4-6)
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When my sister passed away, I bought a big, beautiful poster with this Scripture. I hung it right by my bed, so it was the last thing I saw at night and the first thing I saw in the morning. It helped me so much to focus on God's truth.
Matt, Dana and Sean,
I can not begin to think about losing someone so close. I pray for you often and think about even more often. Even though Korrine is with God this very minute, that can't take away the longing for the way things used to be. I know you want to just wake up and find it was all a bad dream. When you feel this pain, go ahead and cry. God made us that way. If you need a shoulder, come over here and cry, or call and I'll come over and cry, too. But don't give up. When you feel like giving up, cry out to God. He will sustain you.
God bless you all. I love you.
Dianne Duffy
Praying for you with love! Lorri
Praying for strength for you and your family.
You know my sister Sue and my nephew Kevin and family---today, just for some weird reason I looked at the Team KC site. As a parent who lost a little boy long ago I would tell you don't be in any hurry to "clean up" or rearrange---I can remember when our little boy died and people were so anxious to help---might sound weird, but I still cherious the blankets and clothes I didn't wash cuz I swear all these years later I can still smell him on them-and that is something, as weird as it may sound, reminds me most of my child and comforts me. Enjoy these moments---as painful as they are, years later you will wish that you can break down and cry and picture Korrine's smile and hear her laugh or her cry. These are sweet moments that help you hold onto her.....she hears everything you say in your prayers. Stay strong and go Lance---maybe Korrine is helping him on his painful bike ride that certainly has to have some greater meaning.
I cant imagine how hard this must have been. Im sure ever book, stuffed animal, or piece of clothing will bring back an amazing memory of her life. Croghans, you are such stronge wonderful people.
Love,
Emma Hughes
WE LOVE THE CROGHAN FAMILY IN CASTRO VALLEY.
Continued prayers,
Liz and James, Pam and Ben
Hi DANA,MATT,AND SEAN, Korrine was so strong and was almost perfect. she was caring, loving, and loves god so much. she was dedicated to god and always smiling. she was like an angel that came down form heaven to the earth and stayed for 14 years. in those years she was just a perfect angel. and then one day god wanted he home with him to live WITH HIM FOREVER! WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER KORRINE!
I hope you all are doing well!
I miss her so much too.
Everyone can say that Korrine was a great girl, and only great parents could have brought her up to be such an inspiration to all.
with much love,
Livestrong
korrine's friend,
Jennifer
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