This Mother’s Day, friends and family are sponsoring a hike in Forest Park to remember former Portland State student Katie Shearer, who passed away in late January from malignant melanoma cancer. The Katie-Shearer Hike-a-Thon will be accepting donations to raise money for the Shearer family and the National Cancer Institute.
Katie’s story of bravery and acceptance of death after a two and a half year battle with cancer touched the hearts of many Portlanders, especially after sports columnist John Canzano chronicled her struggle in a series of columns.
Throughout radiation treatments, interferon, immunotherapy, clinical trials, multiple surgeries and hospitalizations, Katie continued to attend school, go out with friends and help her mother, Anna, with her four younger siblings.
If Katie acquired her strength and courage from anyone, it was her mother. As if her oldest daughter’s diagnosis was not hard enough, Anna’s fiancé fell ill last year and was diagnosed with cancer throughout his whole body. He passed away in April 2008.
That summer in August, Katie’s condition began to worsen when the clinical trials stopped working. Anna left work to help take care of her daughter.
That same month, Anna’s brother died of a heart attack.
“I don’t know how she was functioning,” said Alicia Castro, a close friend and classmate of Katie, “to lose three immediate family members within a year.”
Castro, who grew closer to Anna in the months following Katie’s death, wanted to figure out a way to help the Shearer family, so she began planning the hike-a-thon.
What originally started as a hike in Katie’s memory, progressed into a full-blown fundraiser, with sponsors including the Trail Blazers, Hood to Coast Relay and others, as well Canzano, the Oregonian journalist who first told Katie’s story.
Prizes will be awarded at the end of the hike for those who have donated, including a cruise from the Portland Spirit.
Interested hikers will register online and pay a minimum donation of $10. The donations will fund the cancer research trials, a new type of procedure to battle cancer, at the National Institute of Cancer, the same place where doctors treated Katie.
The Shearer family will also benefit from the donations, as they have taken a long financial burden over the past six months. Though Katie never wanted anyone to feel sympathy for her, her family and friends believe she would have approved of time well spent in the outdoors, especially if it might help save future cancer victims.
If this is the first you’ve heard Katie Shearer’s story, don’t hesitate to join her parents, friends and admirers on the trail in Lower Macleay Park near Northwest Upshur Street on May 10th.
Bring your mom, and help celebrate a life taken that will save future lives. As Katie would say, “fuck cancer.”
Go to web.me.com/castronova/hikeforkatie/Home for more hike details.