2011 Leukemia Cup Regatta

A few days ago I posted pictures we took of Kellie for her profile photo honoring her as the 2011 honored Skipper!
Please read Kellie's amazing story below and visit this link and join the fight against blood cancers.
leukemiacup.org/ocie


2011 Honored Skipper: Kellie Canaday

As a participant in the Leukemia Cup Regatta, you will be raising funds in honor of Kellie Canaday, our 2011 Honored Skipper. In addition to Kellie, you are encouraged to raise funds in honor of your personal honorees. Your time and efforts will help Kellie and thousands of children and adults in their fight against blood cancers.

My name is Kellie; I am a college student at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa, California and I hope to transfer to Loma Linda University sometime next year. I have always heard stories about people with cancer and I have always thought "Oh, how sad for them and their family" but I never thought that it would happen to me and my family. Then in 2005, on the day after Thanksgiving, I went into urgent care, covered in bruises and very weak. After several blood tests and a few long hours that felt like days I was told I had Leukemia; Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) to be exact. I knew in that moment that my life would change forever. I was no longer able to go to school, go out with friends or even go out of my room without a facemask and an i.v pole.

No longer worried about what was happening on Friday night I was more concerned with when my next round of chemo would start and how I was going to ask my sisters to help me shave my head. I convinced my doctors to let me go home on Christmas Eve so that I could spend, what might possibly have been my last, Christmas with my family. Fortunately, I had great doctors and lots of support from my family and friends to keep fighting. My family constantly referred to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s website for information and answers to their questions which helped them maintain a positive outlook, even on the worst days.

Again, trying to convince my sister to come to the hospital and shave my head was one of the hardest conversations I have ever had; that is something that just shouldn’t have to happen. The only thing harder than that was watching my mom try not to cry the first time she saw me with no hair at all. I could see it was breaking her heart and yet she still tried to be strong. She made sure to tell me that even though I was bald she still thought I was beautiful.

There was only one day while I was in the hospital when my white blood cell counts were high enough to be able to see my niece and nephew. When my then 8-year-old nephew said to me "Wow, Auntie Kellie you look like Stone Cold Steve Austin!" I knew then that I needed to get better. I did not want him growing up remembering me like that.

I am now 25 years old and only a few months from my 5th year in remission, which marks a cure! I love getting to spend time with my family and my nephew even wrote an essay for school on how curing cancer can make the world a better place because he doesn’t want anyone to go through what he saw with me. Now I am focusing my energy on going back to school and becoming an Oncology RN so that I can help other people during their fight with cancer. In my spare time I volunteer with LLS so that we can fund new research and hopefully find a cure for blood cancers!