The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, A ug us t 29 ,2 01 9 | 6 In many ways, Kath- ryn's summer has been typical of any teen, with her time spent hanging out with friends and vacation- ing with family. But unlike most, she has also been attending ap- pointments at SickKids and starting a new trial to treat the inoperable cancer that's currently in her skull, hip and spine. "The cancer is on top of the bone, like paint on a pipe," explained mom Heather. "If doctors were to go in and scrape it, the cells would go everywhere." Kathryn's cancer jour- ney began when she was just five years old. It was June 2008, and the local youngster had been vomit- ing for a few days. "My mom felt some- thing beside my stomach and thought it was a her- nia," said Kathryn. "We went to our family doctor and got sent to SickKids by ambulance." After extensive testing, she was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer of the nervous system. What came in the months that followed was a flurry of medical proce- dures that Kathryn fortu- nately can't remember much of due to her young age and heavy pain medi- cations: Five rounds of chemo- therapy, an 8.5-hour sur- gery, a stem cell harvest and transplants, and 14 rounds of radiation. It was almost too much to believe for Heather and husband Greg, whose emo- tions ranged from shock, to anger, to denial. "She (Kathryn) was so healthy. She was riding her bicycle the night before her diagnosis," said Heather. "I remember sitting there watching her get her first round of chemo, and I thought the doctor was go- ing to burst through doors any moment and say, 'We've made a mistake.' There were lots of tears, and still are lots of tears." During this time, the family made the difficult decision to send toddler son, Geoff, to live with his grandparents as they worked to cope with their new reality. Following the treat- ments, Kathryn was then declared cancer-free, but the celebration was short- lived for the Stewart family as the disease returned a mere 16 months later. The diagnosis brought with it another 24 rounds of chemo, radiation to her abdomen - where the can- cer had come back - and six rounds of immunotherapy. Since then, Kathryn has relapsed three more times and endured countless tra- ditional and trial treat- ments, with cancer still be- ing a part of her story to- day. Sporting partially white hair - a side effect from the most recent ex- perimental treatment she was on - she acknowledges that she sometimes wres- tles with thoughts of "Why me?" But the resilient teen re- fuses to let the disease be something that defines her. "I try not to think about it too much because you can become engulfed," she said. "People tell me that I'm strong, that I'm tough. But at the end of the day, it's my life. You either learn to deal with it or you don't. You have to learn to laugh." Heather said the family has received tremendous support from friends and the community at large over the years, with their church families at St. John's and Maple Avenue churches providing meals, and even homeschooling support when Kathryn couldn't attend school. As she gears up to enter grade 11 at Georgetown District High School, Kath- ryn is optimistic that she won't miss too many clas- ses this year for cancer treatments. The local high school is also where the family will be hosting its third annual scrapbooking fundraiser for childhood cancer, Kathryn's Krop 4 a Kure. The event is set to take place Sept. 28 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with proceeds going to benefit neuroblastoma research at SickKids. Do- nations are being sought for silent auction and raf- fle prizes. "We're doing this be- cause it's the only way we know how to give back," said Heather. "Childhood cancer research is severely underfunded." Based on what's known about neuroblastoma, doc- tors can't determine why Kathryn developed it in the first place as she doesn't have the genetic mutations associated with the dis- ease, and they're unsure of why the cancer keeps com- ing back. "We just have to put our trust in God," said Heather. "Faith has helped carry us through. Every time a treatment stops working, more treatments become available. Every single time." For more on Kathryn's journey and the Krop 4 a Kure visit kathryn- skrop4akure.ca. COMMUNITY Continued from page 5 STILL A LOT OF TEARS, SAYS KATHRYN'S MOTHER