Kim’s Story – A Pint For Kim

“A life not lived for others is not a life.”
Mother Theresa

In 2012, at age 41, after going to see her doctor for some abdominal pain, Kim was diagnosed with a one-in-a-million combination of two different types of cancers. Kim’s only option was a relatively new and complex surgery called HIPEC, often called MOAS (“Mother of All Surgeries”) due to its intensity. Kim went through this procedure in July 2012. When she went into the hospital, she set a goal of getting home and healed enough to be able to walk her oldest son to his first day of kindergarten. In true Kim fashion, she did just that. One year later she walked her youngest son to kindergarten as well.

Not only did she make that first walk, but she went on and walked both of her boys to their first days of school every year all the way through Ricky & JD each starting junior high.

As Kim continued to carry on living her life, many if not most people were unaware that Kim had battled this rare stage IV cancer. Behind the scenes, however, Kim continued to visit doctors and get scans every few months. In 2017, as if beating two types of cancer wasn’t enough proof of Kim’s amazingly fierce strength, one of Kim’s scans showed that she had thyroid cancer. She underwent surgery the day before Thanksgiving. Though her body was adjusting to its new status quo, Kim was home from the hospital the next day to celebrate the holiday and her eldest son Ricky’s birthday. She shined her way through that entire holiday season, continuing to always be a beacon of light for those who were lucky enough to be Kim’s family and friends!

In May 2018, six years after her initial diagnosis, Kim learned that the original rare combination of cancer from 2012 was back and metastasized into her bones.

This new diagnosis made Kim’s case a one-in-ten-million, which meant that significant research specific to her type of cancer had not yet been done. Hearing that kind of statistic might cause some people to lose hope, but Kim was just the opposite. Instead of feeling defeated, Kim talked about feeling proud and humbled to be a part of research that would someday lead to increased and improved options for cancer treatment and prevention. She accepted this next chapter of her journey with unmatched strength, bravery, and always with her famously witty sense of humor.

Given the rarity of Kim’s cancer, there was no established protocol for moving forward. Through the incredible and innovative care of her doctors at Edward Hospital, Kim continued to live a vibrant life as mother, wife, sister, daughter, and friend, hosting many pool parties and sleepovers!

Unfortunately, in November 2019 on Thanksgiving evening, Kim encountered a complication. Kim entered the hospital for the first time since her 2012 and 2017 surgeries. By December 2019, it became clear that the side effects of one of the chemotherapy treatments Kim was receiving was growing too strong. More specifically, Kim was experiencing chemotherapy-induced anemia, something that is very common in cancer patients, and is the reason that the largest use of donated blood goes to cancer patients. Kim received her first round of what would go on to become dozens and dozens of blood and platelet transfusions in December 2019.

Kim was only able to receive these transfusions because strangers somewhere woke up one day and decided to selflessly donate blood. After getting her levels high enough through these donated pints of blood, Kim was able to leave the hospital and go to Bahamas with her family one last time, the place where she met her husband Rob and where their family spent every Christmas.

Kim and her family spent two weeks together, spending time around the clock, laughing, having heartfelt conversations, and most of all, making new memories. Though good for the soul, the time away from her doctors’ care was hard on Kim’s body. After returning home, Kim quickly re-entered Edward Hospital. When she arrived, the doctors tested her blood levels a second and third time as they had never seen anyone with levels as low as hers. They said that it seemed impossible for her to still be alive, let alone walking into a hospital. Doctors and nurses stopped into her room all day because they couldn’t believe what they had heard. This is just another example of the truly miraculous strength Kim possessed throughout the duration of her incredible eight-year journey.

Kim spent most of January 2020 in the hospital as her doctors tried to combat the anemia. By February, however, the anemia was growing stronger. Her amazing doctors tried every possible treatment, and Kim continued to fight through each of them with unmatched resolve and grace.

By mid-February, Kim was in the ICU with no additional options left to try to stop the anemia. However, rather than feel defeated, Kim sat up in bed and announced that she was going to go home and make Valentine’s Day cookies with her boys. After numerous pints of blood as well as multiple platelet transfusions, Kim was able to get out of the hospital. She went home on a beautiful and rare sunny February day. She spent a long weekend with her family and was able to make those cookies! These are the irreplaceable moments that blood donation provides for people in medical situations like the one that Kim experienced.

At the end of that weekend, after spending this much-needed precious time with her boys and the rest of her family and close friends, Kim re-entered Edward Hospital. Though all evidence suggested otherwise, Kim was still determined to be at the blood drive that was being planned for March 8 and that was gaining momentum. (She was also still insisting that her name be taken off of it as she didn’t want it to be about her.) Unfortunately Kim entered hospice shortly thereafter, and one of her final requests was to not have a wake, but to instead use the blood drive to spread awareness of the importance of blood donations. Up until her very last days, she was thanking each and every person around her, as well as continuing to make every one laugh. In her final visits from the doctors who had cared for Kim for years, she even asked them if there were any other ways in which she could help them to learn more in order for them to better treat future cancer patients.

Our hope is that the selflessness with which Kim lived her entire life will live on through A Pint for Kim and that our annual blood drive, on the Saturday before Mother’s Day each year, can be a celebration of life. And an opportunity for her boys to see the everlasting impact their mom made on this world.