Katelyn Tomac is no stranger to cancer. When Kate was 5, her maternal grandmother started chemotherapy for ovarian cancer on the very same day that one of Kate's maternal aunts was diagnosed with breast cancer. Kate's grandmother passed away 3 months later. Kate never knew her maternal grandfather, who passed away from brain cancer 22 years before she was born.
So, in November of 2002, when Katelyn's mom said that the breast cancer she had beat when Kate was just nine months old had returned, but this time in her lungs, Kate was frightened, knowing very well what could happen to her mother. She was just 8 years old.
A few days later, Kate handed her mom a handwritten flyer that said "My friends and I are raising money for breast cancer research. For more information, call Kate at . . ." She said she wanted to copy it and hand it out to the neighborhood.
This evolved into a plan, a logo, a one page color flyer and eventually the recruitment of several friends.
At a time when most adults felt helpless, this child turned her fear and a dream for a cure into ACTION and . . . Kate's Kids 4 the CURE was born!
|