Honouring Katie: Bursary for Young Performers

Dear friends and family,

We are devastated to have learned that Katie has Adrenocortical Cancer - an exceptionally rare form of cancer that affects only 1-2 people per million, making it a challenging battle, and largely unknown territory.

Due to the rarity of this cancer, it's often caught in later stages, which is the case for Katie. She is now undergoing chemotherapy to hopefully slow its progress, ease symptoms and open up the possibility for surgery.

We will not give up on Katie. We love her too much. If we looked just at numbers - she should not have got this cancer in the first place. So, we stay optimistic in our fight to kick the bastard to the curb.

We are raising money for supportive therapies as she goes through her chemo cycles. We're also connecting with specialist doctors and surgeons across the world to tap into their knowledge, and to contribute to the very limited statistics on this cancer.

There are currently several potential routes we could go down for treatments. As we learn more about how Katie is responding to the chemo we will be able understand which option is most suitable. Options so far are below:

• Immune support therapy to complement Katie’s chemo from a company in Dublin that uses stem cells among other immune boosting treatments
• Surgery in Oxford IF her chemo shrinks the tumours
• Surgery and treatment in the US if the NHS can no longer treat Katie. This is because there are more ongoing trials in the US that are not available here in the UK.  

Any money left over after treatment will go to the charity ACC Support UK. This disease is so rare that funding is incredibly limited. https://accsupport.org.uk/

Those who know Katie will know that she is SO STRONG - she was performing 2x shows per day with late stage adrenal cancer - I mean!?? She’s brought magic to so many lives through her creativity, kindness, and unique brand of silliness.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support, love, and generosity. So many people have already shown massive kindness - Katie feels very lucky in life for the precious connections she's made and the huge number of unique and incredible experiences she's had with you all. What a life to have lived (so far!)

With gratitude,

The Hardwick and Kerry family