Katie Corun: Angels In Blue Devil Country

» Read Part I of this series here.
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As a nurse, Katie Corun has seen medical magic before.

But this time, she was experiencing it for herself.

At The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University, not only were they treating her illness, they were encouraging her to live fully while fighting for her very existence.

"I've never met people or been around people—and I worked in the medical field—I've never been around such an amazing group of people. everything is about hope there," she said. "There's the reason why I'm still here today and why I went back to school."

Katie credits Dr. Annick Desjardins, her primary oncologist; her husband, Ron, her mom, Kathy, and the nurses and staff at Duke with encouraging her to keep pursuing her degree while in 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."

She took classes, worked part time and tried to maintain a positive outlook on life while still believing that she may die despite chemo treatments.

"What else am I going to do? Sit at home? I'm going to bury myself, drive myself into the ground from anxiety and depression," she said.

She said she told herself: "'I've just got to keep going. It's my new normal. I just pick up the pieces and go.'"

It was a 180-degree turn from the immediate reaction to her initial diagnosis, when she began writing out her own funeral plans.

Where along the way did things change for the woman who—less than a year removed from her wedding day--was delegating how she wanted her belongings dispersed after she was gone? What changed her attitude from waiting to die to striving to live?

"It was Duke, to be honest with you," she said.

At a hospital in Baltimore, the plan was to go with radiation treatment. Corun said that her mother's conversation with Dr. Henry Friedman, the cancer center's deputy director, included one strict request from the reknowned oncologist: "Whatever you do, don't let them radiate her tumor, she'd be blind in both eyes."

"I went to Duke, they started me on chemotherapy every day for a year straight," she said. "I did an infusion every two weeks. I gained a tremendous amount of weight from the steroids."

The infusions were done locally to cut down on the six-hour travel time from her Fallston home in Harford County, to Duke, located in Durham, NC.

The treks to Duke usually included an overnight—but it wasn't a dreaded hospital stay.

"The hospitality is out of this world," Katie's husband, Ron Corun, said. "I know they only see patients on Mondays and Thursdays. That was one of the things that was rough for us: how far we were traveling. They accommodated us and did some Friday [appointments]. And with Katie in school, they worked around her schedule. They basically have bent over backwards for us to help us out."

He said the atmosphere was beyond friendly.

"People are just so nice. You pass somebody in the hallway and they'll say, 'Hey, how are you doing?'"

He said the cancer center was designed according to patients' specifications and includes a fireplace and pianist in the lobby.

So as her "normal" changed, so too, did Katie's aspirations.

She said she once imagined winning the lottery and buying the dream home and car that comes after the big check. But now, the goal is a little different.

"My dream would be to build a Preston Robert Tisch Center in Maryland," she said.

So while receiving treatment, feeling ill from chemo, taking classes, working part time and trying to live a positive life, Katie turned her experience into an opportunity to give back.

"Every year Duke has a [fundraiser] walk called Angels Among Us. It's in April. Many of the patients, or what we call, angels, who have passed, their families get together and do this walk to raise money," she explained. "Duke is so far from us. So I just decided I wanted to do something local. I thought about a walk. My mom suggested we do a fundraiser or gathering."

Katie said her mom does what Kathy does best: "She went to town."

With a fundraising team in mind, they created "Team Tootles," a nod to the name—"Tootles"—that Katie had given her tumor. The inaugural fundraiser, "Saving Katie," was held in May 2012 at Half Pints Sports Pub & Grill in Bel Air.

This year's event, from 2-6 p.m. this Saturday at Half Pints, will be missing something.

Tootles won't be there.

Visit Fallston Patch on Friday for Part III of this story. Sign up for Fallston Patch's newsletter to receive it in your in-box.

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Take part in a fundraiser to benefit Duke's Preston Robert Tisch Brain Cancer Center, on behalf of Katie Corun, from 2-6 p.m. this Saturday at Half Pints in Bel Air.