5K for 5 Kids - Katie

The Color Run is 1 week from today - Sunday, July 29! For those of you on Team Break the Grey, I just sent out an e-mail with the pre-race info packet attached and some notes of importance for race day. If you signed up to be on Team Break the Grey and did NOT receive an e-mail from me, please e-mail me and let me know so I can send you the pre-race packet: seboesing@gmail.com

This week I'm going to introduce you to the last (but most certainly not least) of our 5 honored kids: Katie.

Katie was 8-years-old when she started having frequent headaches, cough, congestion, and fevers. On the third trip to the doctor they ran a CBC which showed an extremely elevated white blood cell count. They immediately sent Katie and her family to the hospital for more testing. The doctor that met them in the ER told them that based on Katie's labs, he thought it was cancer.

On November 20, 2008, Katie was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Katie's white blood cell count was so high that she needed to go to the ICU. She had x-rays, aphaeresis (draining extra blood cells from her body), IV lines placed, chemo, spinal taps, bone marrow biopsies, a heart echo, and blood, platelet, and plasma transfusions. Her initial spinal tap showed leukemia cells in the spinal fluid, so intrathecal chemo (chemotherapy injected into the spine) was added to her treatment protocol.

After one week in the ICU, Katie moved to the oncology floor to continue her treatment plan. She underwent months of inpatient chemo. We first met Katie at our Break the Grey party in 2009, and she was beautiful, inside and out.

Katie and her mom in 2009

After a long and hard battle with cancer and its side effects and complications, Katie completed her chemo and was declared cancer-free! Her hair started growing back and she started to get back to school, friends, and life after cancer.

 I am happy to say that it has been 3 1/2 years since Katie was diagnosed with leukemia, and she is still cancer-free! She is full of life and I am so proud of her and her family.

Katie and I at Camp Quality 2010

Katie and I at Camp Quality 2011

This is why we're running: for Chloe, Adam, Nick, Patrick, and Katie. We're running for the kids who have died, the kids who are struggling with long-term side effects, the kids still in treatment, and the kids who survived. We're with them and we're for them.

Check out all the details on the Louisville Color Run next Sunday here. Run hard, and don't stop believing.

Hoping, Believing, and Never Giving up,

Sarah