Kathryn O’Leary

My Story

When I was 3 years old my daddy was told he had testicular cancer. Unless it happen to you, I don’t think anyone knows how scary it is to see a family member in the hospital in so much pain… And I had to see it when I was only 3 years old.

What I Have Learned

One of my mom’s favorite quotes has always been, “Carpe Diem”, which means seize the day. After my dad was diagnosed that’s exactly what my family has been doing… We live in the moment. And love the Life we Live.

How I Am Feeling Now

My Dad is healthy now, (thank God). I am now a 9th grade student and my dad has been teaching me lacrosse for a few years now. Now my dad is the asst. coach for our lacrosse team at my school.

How I Got Involved

My cousin started to tell me about the headstrong organization… She gave me a brief summary of what the foundation is about, But i wanted to know more. I Googled HEADstrong and found this website. I read all about Nicholas Colleluori and his story. I love what this foundation is about: Lacrosse and Cancer Awareness. Nick sounded like an amazing man and lacrosse player. I was inspired.

A couple weeks ago I had to give a 2mins long cause or effect speech. When I got the assignment I knew exactly want the topic of my speech was going to be. I chose the topic of what caused the HEADstrong Foundation to start. I explained Nicks illness, his love of Lax and his devoted way of thinking towards starting a foundation. I also told about how his family and friends kept Nicks memory alive through HEADstrong. After giving my speech the other kids in my class found Nicks story very inspiring. Half of the guys in my class are lacrosse players too, and have my dad as a lax coach (so they know that he had cancer). They had many questions and were very interested in the Foundation and Nick’s story.

~Kathryn