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Karing for Maggie and Kate

On Saturday June 10th Kara lost her battle with cancer. She was surrounded by her loving family and friends. We now are putting our focus on "Karing" for the girls,  Any donations to this fund will support the needs of Maggie 15 and Kate 13.  They will remain at home in Upton with their Auntie Kelly who loves them dearly.

This disease isn't fair, it  doesn't discriminate and certainly doesn't consider the people left behind.  WIth the help of their amazing family Kelly, Maggie and Kate will support eachother by living the life Kara wanted for them - standing in the light and leaning toward joy.




We are Karing for Kara!

As many of you know Kara was recently diagnosed with stage IV non small cell lung cancer with an EGFR mutation.  This was a shocking and certainly overwhelming diagnosis considering she is such an active healthy person!  

We all jumped into action to get the right doctor, medication and as much support as we possibly could as quickly as possible.   We feel extremely blessed to be with Mass General Hospital and Dr. Lecia Sequist, the leading specialist in the world for this specific cancer.
We just received the exciting news that the medication is working!!  The cancer is NOT growing.  Kara is lucky enough to take chemo by pill at home for treatment.    She will however need to continue this treatment for the rest of her life.   

The goal is to get back to work and back to her daily routine as soon as possible,  however we are unsure how long that will take.  After several rounds of radiation and two months of treatment Kara needs to take the time to gain her strength back.  This has presented an obvious challenge financially especially given she is a single parent.   Those of you who know Kara well,  know it is difficult for her to ask for and receive help but she is the first to offer it.  That is why we are asking for her!

We are overwhelmed by the support we have received from so many wonderful friends and family members with dinners, cards, well wishes and lots of love.   We also realize there are many people who are just learning of Kara's diagnosis now and want to help.  It is a testament to the person she is to see how many amazing people she has in her life. 

SO many of you have asked, "How can I help? What do you need?"  We have been so busy trying to get through this phase of treatment that we just simply didn't know.  Well.... now we do!   We would like to raise enough funds to ease her immediate financial burden and her mind so that she can put all of her energy into getting well.   

If you can contribute to Karing for Kara -any amount is helpful and appreciated- we can ensure that she has one less burden while she is focusing on getting stronger.  

The week we learned about the diagnosis we made a decision to "stand in the light and lean toward joy."  Some days that is tougher than others but we know that is where we need and want to be.  We have heard beautiful encouraging stories of people who have "lived with lung cancer" for many many years.  We expect nothing less for Kara.   We are so grateful for all of the amazing people in our lives.  Please know we are thinking of you all and feeling the positive energy you send to us every day.   Thank you for standing in the light with us.
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $100 
    • 6 yrs
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Organizer and beneficiary

Kelly Grill
Organizer
Upton, MA
Kara MacDonald
Beneficiary

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