Katie’s Kids Blog

The following post is by MJ Hurley Brant

Let me share with you that my book, When Every Day Matters: A Mother’s Memoir on Love, Loss and Life  will enter the world on October 1, 2008.  At that moment it will no longer be mine and I will refer to it as “The Book”. In this book I invite you to accompany my intimate walk with my beautiful daughter Katie, a formidable, courageous and wise young woman who for 10 years battled a brain tumor.  And while Katie left her earthly life at 28 years of age, you will come to experience how Katie Brant accomplished a hundred lifetimes of good.

This memoir is spiritual, psychological and heart-felt.  Many colleagues who have read When Every Day Matters said that not only is it a powerful book which discusses soulful issues, but it is so compelling it reads as a novel.

Questions of faith are addressed in this book, hard questions about how we can continue our lives when we have suffered incalculable loss and what part our faith actually plays into the decision to stay in our lives.   In this book I draw on my 28 years experience as a practicing psychotherapist and certified group psychotherapist and I examine the psychological aspects of our life and death struggle.  I also felt it important and necessary to speak candidly about the family issues that surround a family during times of crisis and loss.   I think it takes great authenticity and integrity to live our own life and not someone else’s idea of what our life should be.  Because of that belief I encourage my reader to do just that.  I also reveal how I fought to regain the life that I had in front of me.

We all know that after a devastating loss the journey to recovery is a lonely one, but you don’t have to walk it alone.  I would like to walk with you as a companion out of the darkness of life’s most bewildering experiences and into the light of day.  I understand completely that none of us can get over our losses until we go through them.  I would like to be your guide to the other side of life, to the other side of your loss.  I hope that you will let me. Until then, Make Your Every Day Matter.

(Below is the copy from a recently issued press release)

Villanova, Pennsylvania – Katie’s Kids for the Cure, a national non-profit which funds pediatric brain tumor research, is thrilled to announce the receipt of a $50,000 gift from Villanova resident, Kathy Shaw.

Ms. Shaw, the former librarian at the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur, gave the donation to honor her parents, Dr. & Mrs. Daniel L. Shaw. Katie Brant, founder of Katie’s Kids, a 1988 graduate of Notre Dame, lost her battle with brain cancer in 1999.

Dr. Daniel Shaw was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College and Mrs. Arlene Shaw was a graduate from Jefferson’s School of Nursing. Mrs.Arlene Shaw passed away in April 2006 and gave her daughter, Kathy,the opportunity to donate funds to a local non-profit of her choosing. Ms. Shaw selected Katie’s Kids and spoke fondly of her memories of Katie’s piano playing in the practice room outside of Notre Dame’s library.

Katie, in 1998, the last year of her life, founded Katie’s Kids for the Cure. With a world-renowned medical advisory board, the foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for pediatric brain tumors— the leading cancer-related cause of death in children. Katie’s Kids has been instrumental in bridging a critical gap in funding cutting-edge research often considered to be too early stage to receive government funding. While locally based, the organization has achieved national recognition for the impact of the research that it supports, includingattribution in the Journal of Neurosurgery for making critical cancergene identification research possible.

Katie’s Kids is also gearing up for its 3rd annual Fall Family Fun Fest on Sunday, October 14, 2006, at The Willows, 490 Darby-Paoli Road, Villanova, PA, from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Last year, over 350people took part in the fun – face painting, moon bounces, pony rides,music and more. This particular event honors the memory of Lander Miller, the daughter of Bill and Katy Miller. Lander lost her battle to brain cancer before reaching her first birthday.One-hundred-percent of the proceeds raised at the Fun Fest funds research grants.

Ms. Shaw’s $50,000 donation will fund one year of a two-year grant,which the organization will award at its Spring 2008 event.

A cure for pediatric brain tumors is possible. For more information,please visit our website at www.katieskids.org.

Find out more information here! We hope to see you there!

Director, Caroline Brant

Executive Board Member, Bill Miller

2006 Grant Award Recipient Team Member, Dr. Jeanette Hyer

Ray & Mary Sue Hansell Present a Check for $5,000 from the Montangelica Fund