Her story inspired a community.

Kate Thornton’s two-year battle against leukemia may have ended on Sunday, but her legacy will live on through others who are determined to help children suffering from terminal diseases.

“There’s no way that this is going away, it can’t” Kat Manzella, Kate’s godmother and volunteer with Kisses4Kate, said. “This is bigger than any of us. This has tapped into the hearts of this community and beyond. We have girl scout troops from Florida sending us money so we can keep going. I can’t make any sense of why Kate had to suffer for so long. I do know that she has a purpose and all of this has a purpose. Through her, we exposed everyone to this vicious disease and that it doesn’t take that much to help.”

In the past year, Davidson County residents have answered the call for help on two separate occasions involving a family coping with cancer. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition built a house for the Creasey family last November with the help of hundreds of volunteers. Tricia Creasey, a science teacher at Brown Middle School, is battling colon cancer and her home was too small to meet her medical needs. Last Friday, Kisses4Kate raised enough money for a down payment on a new house so the Thornton family could be together in Kate’s final days. The Thornton’s lived in a small Thomasville home where Kate was sleeping on the couch. Hopes are that the momentum from stories like these will continue and more families will get the help they so desperately need.

“Kate left a large legacy even though she was only 5 years old,” said Caron Myers, executive director of Carolina Cancer Services (CCS). “It was the legacy of somebody many years older. Her story raised awareness to an entire community as to the needs that are out there.”

Myers knows all-to-well the pain of losing a child. Her 10-year-old daughter passed away from leukemia several years ago, and she continues her efforts to raise awareness at CCS.

“My dream has always been to keep her legacy going,” Myers said. “Community support is imperative. Just knowing that I had a safety net, that I had people who were there and a community that rallied behind me, made all the difference in the world. It makes you pay it forward and want to give back.”

Myers said it’s difficult for organizations like CCS to raise money as people feel more comfortable donating to a person, a face they can see and relate to. Kate has been the face for children with leukemia for two years and the goal of CCS is to continue keeping people aware that there are literally thousands of children who also are suffering from terminal diseases.

“There are so many children in our community with cancer,” said Myers. “The needs are there and they are not stopping. The Thornton family was very fortunate to have so much support, but not every family is that blessed. The needs are great and are bigger than any one family could ever imagine. When CCS or Kisses4Kate are asking for donations, people need to remember those faces that we see every day. Their sweet little eyes, we see them all the time, the community doesn’t.”

Myers is currently trying to help another 5-year-old child with cancer who is living in single-wide mobile home that is more than 30 years old with no central air. CCS has 260 people receiving chemotherapy and pays close to $20,000 a month for prescription medications. September is Breast Cancer Awareness month and 26-percent of the people at CCS suffer from the disease.

Manzella said Kisses4Kate is continuing to raise money for the Thornton family, and once their house is paid for, the organization will focus its fundraising efforts on another child. Pink “Kisses For Kate” bracelets still will be available at stores across the area, and Manzella said Kisses4Kate is already in the early planning stages of assisting another local family affected by cancer who is in need of housing.

“We want to try and relieve some of the stress these families are feeling,” Manzella said. “We’re not talking about moving a mountain, we just talking about having some compassion. More people have become aware through Kate. We have to keep this momentum going. We’ve had so many people say they want to participate. We want to continue being a physical presence that isn’t going away. This has buckled our knees but we will get back up.”

For more information, call CCS at 249-7265 or visit www.kisses4kate.org.



Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 888-3578, or duke@tvilletimes.com.