Kim Patterson | The Jared Tomich Halo of Hope Foundation

“The Halo of Hope Foundation offered me an opportunity to meet other cancer patients who knew exactly what I had been through.”

Kim was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (A.L.L.) at the age of 4. Her initial chemotherapy treatments lasted for 2 years. After living nearly 3 years as a healthy child, she relapsed at age 9 with Leukemia. Her course of treatment lasted 2.5 years. Kim spent the majority of that time in the Hematology/Oncology clinic at Children’s Hospital in Omaha receiving countless pokes, chemotherapy, fluids, blood transfusions, bone marrow aspirations, platelets, and spinal taps. In 2005, Kim was asked to be one of the first Halo of Hope Campers to the Winter Camp in Wausau, WI and then a summer reunion trip to Seattle.

Kim graduated Summa Cum Laude, in May, from Rockhurst University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. On July 8th, she began a new chapter in her life, working as a Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurse at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. She has dreamed of working with pediatric cancer patients since she was nine years old when her nurse, Anisa Hoie, inspired her to enter the nursing field. Kim could not be more grateful and elated to be part of this incredible team and to have the opportunity to bring smiles to little cancer patients just like Anisa did for her.

“The Halo of Hope Foundation offered me an opportunity to meet other cancer patients who knew exactly what I had been through. Lauren Johnson, a fellow Nebraska group member, and I became inseparable during the weeks at camp. Lauren and I continued to stay in touch and meet up after the camps had ended. I would visit her in the hospital, we would stay up late into the night playing Mario Kart at sleepovers, and we always talked about our friend Jared Tomich. Lauren was diagnosed with Leukemia a year and a half after the trip and passed away within a month. I am grateful for every day that we spent together and the friendship that we found through these camps.” -Kim