Who is Martha C. Kinnecom?
This non-profit foundation is named in honor of Martha Kinnecom by the organizations' founders: her husband Andy and daughters Katie and Kim.
Martha lived the epitome of a lifestyle that avoids cancer. She walked daily to work. She ate all the right foods. She drank bottled water. She exercised. Gardened. Wore sunscreen and applied lotion daily. She maintained a consistent healthy weight. She had a positive outlook on life and made friends easily. She visited the doctor's office for preventative checkups regularly. She donated blood to the American Red Cross every six weeks. She went to the dentist twice per year. She had colonoscopies, pap smears, blood tests, scans and exams.
The Martha C. Kinnecom Peritoneal Cancer Foundation Inc. has filed as a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation
www.PrimaryPeritonealCancer.org
PRIMARY PERITONEAL CANCER FOUNDATION
Keep Hope Alive
Martha loved to play golf, read books, create beautiful gardens, make friends and talk to her two daughters daily. She and Andy bought a golf resort in North Carolina and ran it for several years, but they permanently relocated to their Florida home in July, 2008 after several investors in the golf resort offered to buy them out.
In June of 2008, Martha began to have vague abdominal discomfort, which she chalked up to the stress of leaving the golf resort and moving permanently to Florida. She had been diagnosed several years earlier with irritable bowel syndrome, so the feeling of fullness and bloating seemed normal as a result of a change of routine.
Martha at Fenway Park in 2008 for her 50th Birthday - just 18 days before DX Day.
Andy and Martha Kinnecom on their 25th Anniversary Trip
The uncomfortable feeling didn't go away and Martha wanted to feel better for their trip to New England in August and September to celebrate her upcoming 50th birthday. She saw the gastrointestologist who referred her to the gynecologist because he didn't think the distress was GI related. The GYN doctor performed several tests including a blood test, pap smear, ultrasound, transvaginal scan, and biopsy. He identified a fibroid uterine tumor and recommended a hysterectomy.
Initially, Martha was going to treat the fibroid with enzymes, hoping to disolve it over a period of time. But, on her 50th birthday in early September, the pain was so bad, she made up her mind to move forward with the hysterectomy. Upon her return to Florida on September 7, she scheduled the hysterectomy for the earliest date available, turned out to be Monday, September 22, 2008.
At 6:00am on September 22nd, Martha reported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital as scheduled. Shortly after the surgery began at 9:00am, the doctor found her husband Andy in the wating room with pictures of the cancer. Fortunately, a GYN ONC surgeon was there, and he assisted on the tumor debulking and full abdominal hysterectomy. Five days later, Martha was discharged from the hospital with a referral visit to a local medical oncologist.
Martha soon discovered over the next month that the cancer had metasticized to the lungs, liver, bones and pelvic muscles. Despite a clinical trial drug, chemotherapy, radiation, more chemotherapy, and multiple medical opinions, the cancer was 'platinum-resistant' and claimed Martha's life on August 8, 2009, a little more than 10 months after diagnosis.
Martha and Andy Kinnecom with their daughers Kimberly Kinnecom (top left) and Katie Kinnecom Young (top right)
Martha, in pain, on her 50th Birthday September 4, 2008 at the Bethel Inn Golf Resort in Bethel, Maine.
This print titled "Grandmother's Garden" sits in Martha's home as a daily reminder of her goal to become a grandmother - so she has no choice but to beat the cancer.
About the Foundation:
Although the foundation has been named in recognition of Martha, we honor all those women who have been diagnosed with this aggressive and debilitating cancer. Andy and Martha, together with their daughters Katie and Kim, have created this foundation to provide a clearing house of information for survivors and to help those diagnosed with the often challenging financial crisis that accompanies the disease. We envision the foundation will become the #1 source of help for survivors of Primary Peritoneal Cancer and we will work tirelessly at discovering opportunities to screen this disease well before it reaches stage III or IV, as is the norm today.
Together, let's Keep Hope Alive,
Only two months after the visit to Fenway Park, the cancer had spread from the abdomen to the pelvis, lungs, liver, and bones, but we are relentless in an aggressive treatment plan to reverse the cancer and put it in remission.
