Welcome to Kate’s Cause

Kate Olivia Rhoades was the love of our lives.

She was diagnosed with high risk pre-b cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was 26 months old. Through 25 months of intense treatment, daily & weekly chemo schedules, weekly doctor visits and pokes, she blew us all away when she finished her treatment protocol on time on September 14, 2015. She hated every minute of it, but you’d never know it by looking at the smile she had on her face or hearing her enthusiastic voice and giggle.

When treatment ended, Kate started to live…really LIVE the life she so deserved to have. We took her on her first trip to the beach, she had her very first day of school and we took our first real family vacation. We packed a whole lot of life into those four months, never knowing they would be her last.

She relapsed almost exactly four months later. Then, just 15 hours after we learned the leukemia she beat only 4 months earlier was back, she died in the PICU from sepsis and multiple organ failure. There was no preparing ourselves for the mind-numbing pain that would follow.

Kate’s cancer has a reputation for being the “good cancer”…the most treatable and with the best prognosis. After she passed away, we (her family) promised that her death would not be in vain. We launched Kate’s Cause in her honor and memory to raise awareness, raise funds for better and less toxic treatments for kids and give back to the pediatric cancer community.

Will you help us honor that promise to our little girl? We’re so glad you’re here.