"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

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Team KC SwimSTRONG Swim-A-Thon October 2nd 2011

Every year, roughly 10,400 children under the age of fifteen are diagnosed with cancer in the United States (American Cancer Society, 2008). The physical, emotional and psychological impact on a child and his or her family is tremendous. Parents appear with their child at the countless number of doctor appointments, and have to attempt to remain calm and composed in what sometimes feels like a helpless situation. Beyond that, the financial impact to each family can be unbearable. Staying four or five days in a nearby hotel while their child receives chemotherapy treatments is not uncommon. Gasoline needs to be obtained, food needs to be purchased, and bills need to be paid which can be difficult.

Team KC

Team KC is a non-profit organization falling under the umbrella of Kaiser Hospital. The organization was founded in February of 2008 by the family of Korrine Croghan (KC) who battled a rare form of cancer but passed away in October of 2008. Korrine ( who was only 14 years old) had a strong desire to help others and her desire is the cornerstone to the organization’s mission. The foundation seeks to raise money to improve the quality of life for pediatric cancer patients and provide much needed funds for their families.

Team KC Accomplishments

To date, Team KC has raised close to $100,000 through a variety of events held throughout the greater Tri-Valley Area. The 2008-2009 Team KC Poker Tournaments raised over $20,000 and were attendee by close to 200 players from all over the Bay Area. Many successful blood drives in the past 4 years have yielded countless amounts of much needed blood for the American Red Cross.Team KC also sponsors an annual picnic at the Taylor Foundation Ranch for 200 oncology patients, their families and doctors and nurses who care for these patients.

By far the biggest fundraiser has been the Team KC Swim Strong Events. SwimStrong is near and dear to the hearts of Team KC because Korrine was an avid competitive swimmer and water polo player from Livermore. In the past three years these events alone have raised close to $100,000. The event is held at the Robert Livermore Swim Center in Livermore and consists of swimmers getting money pledges for how many laps they can complete in a half an hour. There is also an opportunity for swimmers to purchase T-shirts, baked goods, raffle tickets for prizes and partake in the silent auction. Each swimmer is also invited to a free Bar-B-Que.

Team KC has big goals for the future. Currently, Team KC is working on getting fun activities for patients to do while staying in the hospital. With money already raised, Kaiser hospital purchased a Wii station for the patients to play with and has also purchased other things such as arts and crafts activities.. A lot of families do not have a place to go once their child is in the hospital, so Team KC’s long-term goal is to purchase a house in close proximity to Kaiser in Oakland where these families can stay while the child is undergoing treatment.

How Can You Help?

Team KC is looking for sponsors to provide prizes for the raffle that occurs during the SwimStrong event that will occur this year on Sunday, October 2nd, at the Robert Livermore Community Center in Livermore. In the past Team KC has been blessed with great raffle and auction prizes that included : Wii computers, I-pods, swim MP3’s, restaurant dinner packages, vacation get-a-ways and professional sports tickets and signed memorabilia. It is our hope that you or your organization can help out with a donated prize.

  • When you donate a prize that is worth over $250, you will get your name printed on this years T-Shirt.
  • When you donate a prize that is worth over $500, you will get your name printed on this years T-shirt and banner that will be displayed at SwimStrong.

We hope you are able to help make SwimStrong a successful event. If you can help us please contact:

  • Matt Croghan at mcro1990@yahoo.com or by phone at 925-337-5481.
  • Cindy Gary at TeamKC@comcast.net
  • Jaclyn Rice at jaclyrice@gmail.com

To find out more about Team KC go to The Team KC Facebook Page and visit our blog

At http://korrinecroghan.blogspot.com/

Thank you for taking the time to read this article and helping us out. Remember, LiveStrong and SwimStrong!

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