Help Kate Fight Breast Cancer!

Hi. My name is Heather Tomlin. I have the honor of working with Kate. Over the years, Kate has blessed all of us, at Forsyth County EMS with generous love and support. Kate has never missed an opportunity to make a hand made card for someone having a hard day, paint a canvas, with an inspirational quote, for someone needing some encouragement, make cake pops for her shift just because it’s a long weekend, at work and she most certainly doesn’t miss the chance to celebrate anyone and everyone’s successes…no matter how big or small. Kate has also inspired all of us with her philanthropic nature. Kate, with a team, ran across the country, raising awareness and monetary funds for people fighting cancer. Kate’s team was comprised of young people, who some of them, had fought their own battle of cancer, while others had close family members with cancer. Kate has also ran several marathons (including the New York Marathon). She has used this platform to raise awareness and money for those with various kinds of cancer. While training for and running these marathons, Kate would write the names of people she loved who had fought cancer or lost their lives to cancer, down the backs of her legs.
 If you're new here, or haven’t met Kate, I'm sure you have gathered that she is a very special person. She is tenacious, courageous and committed to her fight for those she loves. But now, Kate needs our help. A few weeks ago, just months before leaving for PA school, Kate found a lump in her breast. She had it checked, immediately. Her diagnosis shocked us all. It was breast cancer. Her life turned upside down, in an instant. She was subjected to many tests. Only to learn, her cancer had not been caught early. Her medical team diligently went to work making her treatment plan. More testing was done (daily it seemed). The plan changed. Then it changed again...and again. She was scheduled for a double mastectomy. A CT revealed her tumor was bigger than they originally thought. Her surgeon no longer felt optimistic about her surgical margins. The double mastectomy was canceled. Kate began chemotherapy to hopefully shrink the tumor to a more manageable size. If this is successful, she will then undergo her double mastectomy. Following the double mastectomy, she will likely undergo more chemo and radiation. This is just the beginning of this marathon, we are running with Kate. There are still so many unknowns. However, the one thing we all know...Kate isn’t done making this crazy planet a better place. While she has already made the world a better place for those of us who know her, there are still so many people who Kate has yet to meet. She has more lives to enrich. She has more love to give. She has more people to help.
 As you can all imagine, this has all been quite overwhelming for Kate. The diagnosis...the support...the fundraising. Kate is accustomed to being the one who is always helping. She is not used to receiving help. This is certainly taking her some time to get used to. We all want to raise more money than Kate needs, as we do not want her to have anything else to worry about. But anyone who knows Kate knows she is the most self-less person. Kate will undoubtedly only use the money she absolutely needs and no more. Knowing Kate, she will donate the remaining funds to someone else to make their battle more bearable. So, if you have a little to give, please donate and help Kate...so Kate can continue helping others. If you do not have the extra to donate, please share her story and add her to your prayers.
Thank you, all, for helping Kate feel the love that she so freely gives to others.