Kate Fronek Kate Strong

Welcome to our CaringBridge website, where we are keeping family and friends updated.  We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement to support our Kate.

In February, Kate was dianosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a cancer of the blood affecting white blood cells. Shortly after the initial diagnosis, a cytogenetic test revealed Kate had Monosomy 7, a chromosonal alternation affecting her white blood cells. The Monosomy 7 required her to have a more aggressive form of treatment, which included two rounds of chemotherapy, each lasting approximately one month. Following the chemotherapy rounds, Kate needed a bone marrow transplant to completely wipe out leukemia from her bone marrow.  She was at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis for her chemotherapy rounds, and then went to the pediatric hospital at the University of Minnesota for a bone marrow transplant.  After receiving considerble chemotherapy and radiation prior to her bone marrow transplant in May, this treatment left her body in a very vulnerable state with no immune system. The doctors believed that sometime after this, she contracted a virus that ended up affecting her brain, heart, and finally, her lungs. She went home to heaven on July 17. This is her story...and ours.