Kickin' Concrete
For Cancer

My name is Courtney Thompson and I have three kids; Tiearra who is a senior this year, Corbin who is a freshman, and Tapanga who is in 5th grade. They all attend Norfolk Public Schools. I also have a step daughter Caydence who is a senior at Elkhorn Valley in Tilden. I was diagnosed with leukemia when I was five years old, found during my kindergarten shots. I was treated at UNMC for the leukemia and became a survivor in 2001. I grew up in a family of all boys I have three brothers, Travis, Kalin, and Kyle. We grew up being raised by our mom Brenda, and my grandparents were always right there as well.

Growing up I spent a lot of time at the Norfolk High School watching my brother Travis wrestle since a young age. I would go watch them practice and learn the moves, but could not participate with me having a port, but since then I fell in love with the sport of wrestling. My younger brothers also wrestled, and I also took stats throughout school. Becoming a mom was truly my greatest blessing! As my children started growing up they also started wrestling Tiearra has been wrestling for eleven years, Corbin twelve years, and Tapanga almost eight years. They literally grew up on the mats.

In 2021 I fell in love with my fiancé, Colby. Although we have known each other since we were little, love happened later on down the road. We were supposed to get married November 16, 2024, but we decided to put on hold due to my diagnosis. In April of 2024 I found a lump in my breast and it was very painful. It kept getting bigger and I was scheduled for a monogram and breast biopsy. Initially they thought it was just an abscess, but then I got a phone call from my doctor and was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer on May 9, 2024. It was two days before Mother's Day. Since then, I have had chemotherapy therapy and on November, 14th a bilateral mastectomy to remove both breasts. Now I am recovering from surgery and will have radiation treatments soon. About six months later I will be able to have reconstructive surgery. It's been a long journey and will continue to be. I am so grateful to have a huge support group beside me, and to help me stay positive throughout my journey.

#Strong is the only way. - Courtney

Sunday Oct. 15 was the start of Kinsley’s journey. We went to urgent care in Norfolk a fever/leg pain. The leg pain had started a couple nights before, but we figured was related to growing pains. They did draw some blood which did show some elevated WBC meaning an infection, and she was started on antibiotics. She was to follow up with a doctor Monday. She woke up morning her spunky self feeling good. Unfortunately, later Monday I asked to be emailed her bloodwork numbers which showed CRITCAL HIGH WBC.

I quickly showed Dr Cannon and he took great care to get us to Sioux Falls for further testing. Monday night October 16th, 2023 we were told the life changing news. She has leukemia. Thankfully it is the most common type in children and it is treatable. She had a port placed the next day, and she then began Chemo. Dr Nelson and her team are amazing and taking the best care of us all. The total time we were told for intense treatment is 6-9 months. She has had few side effects from the chemo. She developed Pancreatitis in early December which caused us a few days in the hospital. She recovered well for a couple weeks until December 23 she developed a fever causing us to wind up in the hospital for 16 days over the holidays. We found out she also had covid then. During that time thankfully she was able to continue treatment. She will plan in February to start inpatient treatment for a couple months. She will be hospitalized they plan 3-5 days each time. Thankfully it is every other week.

Kinsley is the strongest little girl, she loved rocking a mohawk till her hair completely fell out. Now she loves rocking the bald head. She misses seeing friends and family since she is very limited to only being able to see a few people during this intense treatment. She is still our SPUNKY Kinsley. She is a true fighter, and thankfully everything is responding well to treatment.

“I’m Tough,” a motto Orin Brabec has lived by his entire life. On August 22, 2023, his motto was tested after he was diagnosed with cancer. Before August, Orin was in and out of the hospital for stomach pain and low heart rate. Each doctor could not figure out what was wrong. At the beginning of August, Orin was hospitalized and had to have surgery to remove a tumor. The surgery was successful but later revealed that it was cancerous.

After being diagnosed with large B-cell lymphoma, he immediately started scans. His oncologist said that this type of cancer is very aggressive but curable. He has been doing treatments every three weeks. His second PET scan revealed no signs of cancer! He is set to finish his final treatment in early January and hopefully be declared cancer-free.

His family and friends are extremely proud of his positivity throughout this process. He continues to be strong in his faith in Jesus and shows us his willingness to fight. We ask that you continue to pray for Orin and live by his strong motto. You never know how strong you have to be until cancer shakes your life.

KEEP FIGHTING and BEING TOUGH!