"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
Hello, I wanted to give you a little information about my
son Deven. Deven is 14 years old,
and loves to do what most boys do.
He loves the computer and his Xbox, and really enjoys hanging out with
his friends. When Deven was born,
we found out he suffered from a heart condition called Single Ventricle
Heart. Since birth, he has had 6 open-heart
surgeries, as well as some more minor surgeries via cardiac cath. When Deven was 6, his heart surgeries
caused a new disease called Protein Losing Enteropathy. This disease caused protein
malabsorption, and consequently he didn’t grow for many years. He may be 14 years old, but he only
weighs about 60 lbs and he is 4’ 7” tall.
Additional surgeries were done to change the way his blood was routed,
and he has since been symptom free for the most part since 2009. Unfortunately he still isn’t growing,
and was scheduled to start growth hormones, but he cannot take during his
current treatment.
On December 9, 2011 (Devens 14th birthday) I
received a call from the Doctor regarding the findings of Devens recent
tonsillectomy. He was diagnosed
with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Stage 2B.
We immediately began a series of 4 treatments of Chemotherapy, as well
as 3 weeks of radiation. Deven was
said to be in remission at the beginning of May. Approximately 3 weeks later, I felt an enlarged lymph node
on Devens neck, and after a battery of tests, it is now said that Deven has
relapsed. On June 11th,
a new PICC line was placed, and we began chemotherapy again.
Deven will have at least 4 rounds of more intense
chemotherapy, as well as a stem cell harvest and transplant. We expect to be in treatment for the
next 5 to 8 months. My employer doesn’t
participate in the SDI program, but fortunately with our first wave of
treatment, I was allowed to accept sick leave from my co-workers. Unfortunately, I met the maximum number
of hours I was allowed during a 12-month period, and now I am suffering a loss
in income. I have another child
and a household to support, as well as caring for Deven, so I’m sure you can
understand how frustrating this is for me.
On top of all of this, when it is time for Deven to get his
stem cell transplant, I will have to look for a new home to rent. Deven will need at least 100 days of isolation,
as he will have no immune system to protect him from disease. The house we live in is old, and has
been a long-term rental that the owner hasn’t kept up with. There are many things wrong with the
home and I’m afraid they would compromise Devens health. We had been saving to buy a home, but
due to the loss in income and additional expenses we are now facing, that just
can’t happen.
Programs like this one make it possible for us to continue
to stay afloat during this terrible time.
Thank you so much for your support.
Sincerely,
Angie Denton
Mother of Deven Leonis
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