"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
We have had some great support so far in our effort to get raffle and auction prizes. We can always use more. Some ways you can help is a) if you work in an office you and your office mates or business can put together a basket to auction or raffle off. It could be a sports themed, beach themed, restaurant themed. Be creative! If you own a cabin or timeshare maybe you could auction it off for a weekend get away. If you would like to donate to the auction or raffle e-mail Matt at mcro1990@yahoo.com or Jaclyn Rice at jaclynrice@gmail.com. We are also looking for donations of baked items for the bake sale so if you like to bake, that can be a way to help too. For a little more information regarding SwimStrong 2012 see the message below.
Thank you and SwimStrong,
Matt
List of Prizes/ Donors as of September 12th
A dinner where 3 time 2012 Gold Medal winning swimmer Dana Vollmer and her former American Record Holder Husband Andy Grant will come to your house and cook you dinner!
Signed memorabilia from Dana Vollmer, 3 time 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist and World Record Holder.
Signed Memorabilia from Olympic Gold Medalist Maggie Steffens of the 2012 Olympic Water Polo Team
Signed jersey of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team member Chris Wondolowski of the San Jose Earthquakes ( courtesy of McClay family)
A go Pro Helmet Cam donated by The Gary family
Gift Basket and Gift Certificates to the Ale House in Livermore
$ 100 gift Card from Hot Topic from Shauna Bergendahl
Lap Top Computer from Andre Weiglein and AER Worldwide
2/ 45 minute flute lessons from Beth Wilson
Skateboard Deck and certificate to set it up from Street Science Skateboards
Gift Certificate from Woopsidaisy Toys
Coffee for a year from Peets Coffee
Gift Card at Main St. Designs
Photo Album from Proctors
Gift Card from KoolyKatz Toys
Gift Card from Fantasy Games and Books
Garden Basket from Livermore Florist
A beautiful Area Rug from Carpet One
Gift Basket from UpTown Girls
Consutation Gift Certificate from Castle Comforts
Family Fun Pack from Cafe Arts
Beautiful bracelet and $500 from Cavalieri Jewelers
Italian themed basket from Lix Xavier
Beautiful Hand made quilt from Linda Roseman
1 Hour Financial Planning Review from Jon Elfin
Private and Group Dance Lessons from Arthur Murray
Gift Certificate at The Carvery restaurant
A night out at Wente Winery courtesy of the Kaiser Oakland Pedi-Onc Team
A gift basket from the Staff at Kaiser Oakland
Gift basket from Vann's Health Food in Livermore
$200 worth of swim lessons and goodies from The American Swim Academy
Golf package at the Stanford University Golf Course ( courtesy of Gale Coffey)
3 months of free membership at Lifestyles RX ( courtesy of Kristi Carter)
Two three litres of fine wine from J. Lohr winery ( courtesy of Michaela Harrison)
Two beautiful Amethyst and Citrine stone rings ( courtesy of Denise Croghan)
Complete Harry Potter DVD collection ( courtesy of Mark Croghan)
A San Jose Sharks vs Edmonton Oilers experience ( courtesy of Ryan Jones of the Edmonton Oilers)
Gift Certificate from Double Trouble Desserts
Gift Certificate from Trader Joe's
Athletic apparel from Oakland University
Fine wines from Thomas Coyne
Poster signed by the entire group of 10th Avenue North
Fine wines from Henry Louis
Speedo Swim Back Pack courtesy of Nor Cal Swim Shop
A Child's Delight basket filled with books and games donated by GGS Consulting
An iPod Nano Wristwatch
Fine wines from Wente
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