"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

Smile

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

Monday, September 6, 2010

SIGN UP! SIGN UP! SIGN UP! FOR SWIMSTRONG!!! WE ARE LOOKING FOR HELP IN PUBLICITY! CONTACT MATT OR CINDY GARY IF YOU CAN HELP SPREAD THE WORD.

We finally have the SwimStrong information which is located on this site at the very top right hand corner in the menu bar. You can click on that link and you will be able to see the beautiful poster that Janet Fazio ( from Janet Fazio Advertising) put together for us and also print out a copy of the sponsor sheet. The Swim-a-thon starts at 11:30 and you will want to contact Cindy Gary in order to get a swim time. We will be serving a BBQ lunch to all the swimmers and there will also be an opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for prizes that have been donated and also buy baked goods that people will have made. We are also going to have a silent acution for some great stuff too.We are really looking forward to SwimStrong this year and hope we get a lot of swimmers.

So far we have received some great prizes such as:
X Box 360
An i Pod Touch
A One Year Membership from 24 Hour Fitness with a personal Trainer
$100 Gift Certificate from Heller Jewelers
A water proof MP3 player you can swim with and listen to music
St. Mary's College Of Kinesiology shirts
IM Morning 1 Flip Camera
Sports signed memorabilia ( Vida Blue, Joe Montana, Will Clark)
and other collectables
An Acrylic Painting easel set
TYR Swimmer Backpack from Nor Cal Swim Shop
Boutique and Salon gifts from Uptown Girls ( $200 value)
Lords Ice Cream Gift certificates
Vans Health Food Gift Certificate
Dana's Bridal Gallery Free Tuxedo Rental
A Decorative silk tree from Accents Silk Flowers
Demitri's Taerna Reataurant Gift Certificates
Carpet One Disney Themed throw rugs
Knick Knacks from Outside In
Picture frame from Proctors
Castle Comforts Interior Design Consultation
Gift Certificates from The Ale House
Kooly Katz Toys Gift Certificates
Author Murray Dance Studio free lessons
Analog Computer game controllers
Horseback riding lesson
3 Month family Membership at LifeStyles RX


If you would like to donate prizes for our raffle or silent auction you can contact us through this site or contact either Matt, Cindy Gary or Jaclyn Rice. Thank you to all the Team KC supporters out there and SwimStrong!
Matt and Dana Croghan

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2 comments:

Tricia said...

I'm excited about Saturday! Looking forward to seeing the Croghan's and friends while working out for a great cause!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010
kathy said...

Dana, Matt, and Sean,

As Canyon Middle School students and staff wore their school colors today, to get ready for the "big game"... I wore my Team KC shirt! Team KC is the winning team in my book!

I know the SwimStrong event coming up on Saturday will be a huge success... and Korrine will be smiling down on everyone!

hugs and much love, kathy t.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

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