Help Tara Fight Cancer!

Donations made in Tara's memory will be used to help fund a fundraising event held in Tara's name, 5K4TK; a 5K run to raise awareness of melanoma and leptomeningeal disease, with nurses and doctors on site to screen for skin disease and offer information and resources to those in need.
Help spread the word!

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Tara Lynn Kelly, 30, of Evergreen, Colorado completed her life journey at 6:30pm on April 20, 2019 at the Lowry Campus Denver Hospice in Denver, CO.

Tara was born September 20, 1988 to Jack & Carrie Kelly, first born Granddaughter of Mary Sue Kelly, in Topeka, Kansas. 

She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas at Lawrence in 2011 and her nursing degree from the Denver College of Nursing in 2018.

Her passion to help others fueled Tara to spend much of her time volunteering with organizations in Denver and Peru.

Tara was a lover of music and interaction. Tara’s favorite things to do were attending concerts with friends, cuddling with her dogs and making dinner at home with Carl. She loved attending weddings and witnessing displays of love, and was overjoyed to be planning her own wedding to take place in August 2019.

Tara fought her disease as hard as she could, and never gave up once, she stayed strong through all her unfortunate struggles with her health. She has been a source of inspiration to many. 

Tara is preceded in her death by her grandparent Floyd Kelly. She is survived by parents Jack and Carrie Kelly, brother Kyle Kelly, paternal grandmother Mary Sue Kelly, uncle Jim Kelly, aunt Susan Hocker, cousins Annie, Jared and Amy, maternal grandparents Larry and Cheryl Mather, honorary mother in law Lynda Cox, her dogs Leia and Elko and her fiance Carl Eastman Cox, along with friends too numerous to count. A service in Kansas will be held May 4 at 6:00 pm at Civic Center in Auburn, KS. 

Friends and family will bear witness that Tara’s gifts allowed her to light up any room and befriend any stranger. She lived every day to its fullest and encouraged everyone to do the same.

Tara’s love is like a butterfly, it goes where it pleases, and it pleases wherever it goes.


*UPDATE FROM CARL*
4/19/2019
As many of you know, Tara has been fiercely battling with melanoma for almost 3 years. She has been active and aggressive in her fight and has always had a winning attitude. She has been thru countless appointments, surgeries, medications and treatments in hopes of beating this. I’m so proud of her tenacity thru this battle, she showed more strength and determination than I could ever imagine. That’s why it is so sad for me to say publicly that she is wearing out, she’s thrown her punches, and one girl can only fight for so long. I want everyone close to her to take this time to remember everything that made this woman so amazing, so spunky and fun. The way she lit up a room with dazzling energy. The way she accepted and loved every single person no matter what. The way she instantly became best friends with a stranger. The way she kept everyone up till the sun came up.

We moved Tara to Denver Hospice yesterday, and she is being taken very good care of. If you’d like to visit, please contact me and also please be aware that you may not be able to see her right away, she’s just too popular for this facility to handle! If you’d like to send cards, stuffed animals or whatever else that’s great too, please message me for the address.

I’m sorry if this is coming as a surprise to any reading this, but I figured that even if I sent out messages to everyone I’d still end up missing someone who would want to know this information.

Nothing can prepare you for the loss of someone you love, but I’m thankful for my opportunity to do so much with Tara the past few years, we lived each day to its fullest and have no regrets, only love.


*UPDATE*
3/18/2019
Hey friends! Just wanted to update everyone. Tara is in the hospital recovering from yet another brain surgery. She is doing well but this was her biggest procedure yet. Her and Carl could really use your donations for comfort items, healthy food, etc. as she heals. Thanks for the LOVE ❤️



*UPDATE*
7/22/18
As many of you know, Tara has had a rough couple months. From getting her car stolen, to graduating nursing school (woohoo!), to having to miss her favorite Red Rocks shows of the year, it has been a roller coaster. She has been in and out of the hospital several times and on Monday will go in for her third craniotomy to remove more tumors from her brain. She is amazing and she is a fighter but she can't do it alone. Through all this she has not been able to work so let's chip in and help our Tarapillar out!


9/18/16
As many of you know, our little Tarapillar (Tara Kelly) was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma - they found melanoma on one of her lymph nodes. Thankfully,  it has not metastasized to any other organs, but she still has a long road ahead of her.  To get to this point, she has already racked up an insane amount in medical bills.   In order to fight this thing she will still need to go back to surgery to get the rest of her lymph node removed and undergo immunotherapy.   Not to mention she will most likely have to take alot of time off work for this.. all while trying to put herself though nursing school.  

Fortunately, Tara has the greatest support system around! Due to the amazing person she is, she has so many friends and family that want to help in any way they can.  So here ya go!

Everyone who knows Tara, knows she is a happy light in all our lives, which makes it so hard to see her go through something like this.  She is the most generous, sincere and considerate person you'll know.  So, let's help one of the BEST get the BEST treatment out there!  She is a fighter, but she needs your help too!!

"I get by with a little help from my friends.."