Remembering Katie During Brain Cancer Awareness Month

I think of my dear friend Katie often, but particularly during May which is brain cancer awareness month. It is hard to believe we met a dozen years ago. She was happy, healthy, and a brain cancer survivor.

I met Katie at an event I was involved with. She was working for an event company I hired to help us out. She spotted my name tag and noticed my last name was Mac Donald. She asked if I knew anyone from Nova Scotia, Canada with the last name Mac Donald, and I said “Yes, my dad was from Nova Scotia”. And she replied that her dad was from there too, and she too was a Mac Donald. We instantly connected and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

We learned that our dads were actually friends and although both from Nova Scotia, they met in Michigan. I also learned that my dad would stay over at her parents’ home in Michigan since his family was in Nova Scotia. Her grandma would stay up late waiting for the boys to come home and make them a late night meal. My dad considered her as a second mom since his mom was so far away from home in Nova Scotia. What a small world.

A couple of years after I had met Katie, I decided to start a company called Wrapped in Love, and an on-line store www.wrappedinlove.com. It was an idea inspired by my mom when she was ill. It consists of clothing and accessories I design for women with cancer to provide them with comfort, style and dignity from treatment through recovery. Katie loved the idea, particularly being a cancer survivor. She was more than happy to share with me her thoughts about the most comfortable fabric she recommended for headwear for hair loss and chemotherapy clothing based upon her own personal experience. She said to make sure I had options for days when patients had chills and other days when they experienced hot flashes. But, don’t forget to make it fashionable too, she reminded me.

She had modeled for a variety of stores when she was younger, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to do it again when I invited her to model in my photo shoot for my website and marketing materials. She participated along with other cancer patients and survivors. I brought in someone to do their hair and makeup to truly make everyone feel special. I still remember that first photo shoot as Katie and others held up signs during the photo shoot of how long they had been a survivor. For Katie it was six years that she was a brain cancer survivor.

Katie continued to participate in my photo shoots as I introduced new products, however a short time later her brain cancer reoccurred. She was a real trooper and began treatment again with success. It’s not often you beat brain cancer once, but she beat it twice. She was doing particularly well and was even able to take a trip to Ireland with her mom to visit her relatives there.

Katie was very supportive of brain cancer awareness and participated annually in the Detroit area Head for the Cure, a 5k run/walk, where she even took home a medal.

A year after beating brain cancer twice, it returned again. She began having some confusion, falling for no reason, and without help, was unable to get up. I knew she wasn’t doing well when she called me on the day of a photo shoot and said she couldn’t make it as she had taken another fall and was going to stay with family members for a while. While we had always talked regularly, the calls became less frequent as she slowly lost her ability to speak.

As her health worsened, and she no longer had movement, she was admitted to the hospital, and later to hospice. And although she lost her ability to speak or move, she maintained her beautiful smile, and her twinkling blue eyes.

Katie beat the odds twice, but not this time. She passed away shortly after her 59th birthday.

With May being brain cancer awareness month, I wanted to share Katie’s story as I admired her so much as she fought this terrible disease so many times with grace, dignity, and always a bit of humor.