"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
The Independent newspaper dated February 11, 2010 on Page 9 reads The Livermore Community blood drive reached a major milestone, collecting it's 2,000 unit of blood at its last drive on December 18th 2009. Thomas Petty in partnership with the American Red Cross is who Team KC works with to organize our blood drives. Thomas received the Volunteer service award a national honor offered in recognition of his volunteer service. Tom says "I am proud of the generous residents of Livermore, providing so much blood. Tom said "We may not know the many people we have helped, but in the case of Korrine Croghan, a Granada High School student who lost her fight against a rare form of cancer on October 27, 2008, we do". Tom also notes an excerpt from Korrine's blog.
The next blood drive will be Friday June 11th from 1-7 PM at Marcel Orthodontics. Join Team KC and Marcel Orthodontics in our next blood drive. Remember 1 pint of blood can help save the lives of up to 3 people.
It's Relay For Life time again. Join our team, Marcel Orthodontics/Team KC. For more information please contact Leah Ball at Marcel Orthodontics at 925-447-7799.
Hoofprints on the Heart is an adaptive riding program in Livermore. The founder Peggy James approached me and said she would like to have the Pediatric Cancer Patients from Kaiser Oakland come and spend a very special day with their siblings riding horses and being out on the ranch in memory of Korrine. I immediately got in contact with Pediatric Oncology at Kaiser Oakland social worker Kim Sherman and told her about this idea, they loved the idea. Thank you to Peggy James and Hoofprints on the Heart for this wonderful opportunity for Pediatric Oncology Patients and their families at Kaiser Oakland to spend a day at the ranch on April 7, 2010. Please mark your calendars and come spend the day with us. More details to follow.
Our friend Ryan Jones who plays for the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Team in Canada came up with a great idea. We would like people to take pictures of themselves wearing Team K.C. T-Shirts from all around the world and post them on our Team KC Facebook Page. Let us know where you are at when your wearing your shirt. If you would like to purchase a Team KC T-Shirt let us know by posting to our blog or to our Team KC Facebook page. 100% of the proceeds from the Team KC T-Shirt sales goes directly to the Team KC Pediatric Cancer Fund at the Tri-Valley Foundation. The Team KC Pediatric Cancer Fund directly supports the immediate need of Pediatric Oncology Patients and their families at Kaiser Oakland.
In Loving Memory of Our Precious Daughter in her sweet words.
Stay Positive and LiveSTRONG,
Dana and Matt Croghan
No comments:
Post a Comment