Community Corner
Woman Chooses Hope While Facing Inoperable Tumor
Diagnosed with a rare brain tumor in 2011, Katie Corun initially starting planning her own funeral. Then, inspired by family and staff at Duke University, Corun decided to move on with life -- and the tumor disappeared. Sponsored by Post Grape-Nuts.
About this sponsorship: In honor of the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s historic ascent of Mount Everest, Patch and Grape-Nuts are teaming up to highlight those who inspire people around them to climb their own mountains. This article originally was posted in a three-part series on Fallston Patch.
Facing the Challenge
There's probably no good way to handle the news that you have an inoperable brain tumor.
Katie Corun handled it this way: "I went home and wrote my funeral plans out, as far as what I wanted to have done, things I wanted to go to people," she said. "When someone says to you, 'There's really not much we can do for you,' what else is there for you to do? I didn't think much at that time about second opinions."
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But someone suggested Duke University's Preston Robert Tisch Brain Cancer Center.
Figuring she had nothing to lose, Katie, her husband, Ron, and her mother, Kathy Robinette-Stoneberg, decided to check it out.
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From there, writing funeral plans and waiting for the end gave way to hope and living a "new normal."
Finding the Inspiration
Katie and her family say everyone at the center, from the receptionists to the doctors, provided consistent, friendly inspiration.
"We are grateful for everyone involved," said Katie's mother, Kathy. "It was a complete team effort."
That team effort guided them through what would ultimately be two years of chemo treatments, tests, appointments and long trips from home in Baltimore to Duke in North Carolina.
Before the diagnosis, Katie had just begun studies at Harford Community College. And her support system, including mother, husband and primary oncologist said Katie needed to continue in school -- even through treatment.
"They said, 'You have to go back to school, you've just got to do it,'" she said. "Their whole perspective, it was so true. Just because I'm diagnosed with cancer doesn't mean I'm going to die tomorrow."
Katie said she told herself: "'I've just got to keep going. It's my new normal. I just pick up the pieces and go.'"
Reaching the Goal
Dealing with an inoperable optic pathway glioma, which she named Tootles, was a part of Katie's life—just like work and school.
Until one day in March of this year, during what Katie and her husband Ron thought was a routine appointment, a scan showed the tumor was gone.
"We're not really sure where the tumor went. No idea. No clue at all," Kathy Robinette-Stoneberg, Katie's mom, told Patch. "I'm not a religious freak, but if that's part of it, I'm in."
And along the way, a bunch of other victories. Katie didn't finish school with the classmates she started with, but she was invited to speak at their graduation, Katie's mother said.
The point of sharing the story is not to brag or to talk about how wonderful Katie is, Robinette-Stoneberg said. Instead, sharing Katie's story could inspire someone who believes they have no other option to visit a center like the wonderful facility at Duke University, she said, but even more, it offers one more message.
"It's to encourage people to reach the level of hope that Katie reached," Robinette-Stoneberg said. "Hope...really, a pretty simple message."
Editor's Note: The edited version of this story includes the following corrections: Corun is no longer taking chemotherapy and a quote has been corrected.