Kerry with Jacob, Molly, and Caroline, Christmas 2012.
Kerry (Higgins) Banik
Kerry was 30 years old when she passed away from cancer in 2014. She was the proud mother of 2 beautiful little girls, Molly 6 and Caroline 3. She was married to Jacob Banik and she lived with her family in Barton, NY. She had recently moved from Manhattan where she lived for 5 years with her husband while he attended Rockefeller University earning his PhD.
Kerry was first diagnosed with a sarcoma or tumor in her thigh when she was 12 years old. We took Kerry to Boston to be treated by a famous surgeon that specialized in limb salvaging surgery. He pioneered the use of cadaver bones to be used in place of the bones damaged by cancer. This allowed Kerry to keep her leg. Otherwise the recommendation was to remove the leg to prevent the cancer spreading. The surgery was successful and Kerry was able to keep both of her legs. She was treated in Boston at Mass General and also at the pediatric oncology center in Syracuse, NY. She went through chemotherapy and approximately 12 surgeries on her leg to keep it stable and growing along with her healthy leg.
When Maureen (Kerry's sister) was diagnosed with cancer as well in 2002, there was concern that there was something more involved here than a random cancer in the family. A DNA test was done in Philadelphia and the results were sent to Boston at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. That was where the Li Fraumeni research was being conducted and the specialists were located. With Kerry's positive DNA test result it was determined that she was a Li Fraumeni patient. It was at this time that Kerry was being watched closely for any signs of cancer.
Kerry developed very early stage breast cancer and was treated in Boston. The cancer would never have been found at this early stage without the constant monitoring they were doing on Kerry. The breast cancer came back in 2009 while Kerry was pregnant with her second daughter. Kerry was treated with various treatments over the next 3 years. She traveled to Sloan Kettering in NYC and was also treated locally at the Robert Packer Hospital.
While Kerry was living in Manhattan she lived right next door to the Cornell Medical School. She had numerous friends going through the program at the school and she was always happy to give interviews to the medical students. In granting these interviews she hoped to help the next generation of doctors understand this disease. She also felt very strongly that doctors needed to have a good bedside manner and treat their patients with respect and dignity. She would work very hard to make sure that the young doctors saw their patients as human beings and not just a body in the bed or in the chair in their office. I have been told since her passing that she did have a positive impact on many of the doctors and that they would think of her and her struggles when dealing with their patients.
One thing that Kerry believed strongly was that she did not want to be looked at as a victim or poor cancer patient. She accepted her fate with her head held high. She wanted to be remembered as more than a cancer patient. She was a wonderful compassionate person that loved life and lived it to the fullest. She was always so strong. Even as she was within hours of death, she got up out of her hospital bed and went down to a waiting room to be with the large amount of people that had gathered to be with her at the end. She was an amazing woman.
Kerry started a business after her sister passed away. She started making personalized memorial cards for families around the world that had lost loved ones. When her sister Maureen passed away in 2003, Kerry had made special memorial cards with Maureen's photo on them and a selection of different phrases Maureen used to say. People loved them so much that she was encouraged to make these for other people. She made tens of thousands of those cards over the next 7 years. She made the passing of a loved one a bit easier by making cards that spoke to the family personally rather than the traditional cards at the funeral home. She received hundreds of letters and emails thanking her for the cards. They explained that they helped them with their grief. This is just a sample of how special Kerry was. She was always thinking of other people and trying the help them any way she could. Kerry's sister Eileen has taken over the business now and continues to help families with the grief with these cards. MoMorialcards.com named after Mo.
We hope that by having this life celebration and fundraising event we can honor Kerry and help keep her memory alive. We also hope that the money raised through this event will help others and in some small way turn the loss of this beautiful woman into a positive thing. Please remember Kerry as a wonderful loving giving person that loved life with all of her heart. She thought being a mother was the greatest gift in the world and she was a wonderful mother to her two beautiful little girls. Kerry was made to be remembered -- just like she had written on Maureen's cards back in 2003.
Kerry was first diagnosed with a sarcoma or tumor in her thigh when she was 12 years old. We took Kerry to Boston to be treated by a famous surgeon that specialized in limb salvaging surgery. He pioneered the use of cadaver bones to be used in place of the bones damaged by cancer. This allowed Kerry to keep her leg. Otherwise the recommendation was to remove the leg to prevent the cancer spreading. The surgery was successful and Kerry was able to keep both of her legs. She was treated in Boston at Mass General and also at the pediatric oncology center in Syracuse, NY. She went through chemotherapy and approximately 12 surgeries on her leg to keep it stable and growing along with her healthy leg.
When Maureen (Kerry's sister) was diagnosed with cancer as well in 2002, there was concern that there was something more involved here than a random cancer in the family. A DNA test was done in Philadelphia and the results were sent to Boston at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. That was where the Li Fraumeni research was being conducted and the specialists were located. With Kerry's positive DNA test result it was determined that she was a Li Fraumeni patient. It was at this time that Kerry was being watched closely for any signs of cancer.
Kerry developed very early stage breast cancer and was treated in Boston. The cancer would never have been found at this early stage without the constant monitoring they were doing on Kerry. The breast cancer came back in 2009 while Kerry was pregnant with her second daughter. Kerry was treated with various treatments over the next 3 years. She traveled to Sloan Kettering in NYC and was also treated locally at the Robert Packer Hospital.
While Kerry was living in Manhattan she lived right next door to the Cornell Medical School. She had numerous friends going through the program at the school and she was always happy to give interviews to the medical students. In granting these interviews she hoped to help the next generation of doctors understand this disease. She also felt very strongly that doctors needed to have a good bedside manner and treat their patients with respect and dignity. She would work very hard to make sure that the young doctors saw their patients as human beings and not just a body in the bed or in the chair in their office. I have been told since her passing that she did have a positive impact on many of the doctors and that they would think of her and her struggles when dealing with their patients.
One thing that Kerry believed strongly was that she did not want to be looked at as a victim or poor cancer patient. She accepted her fate with her head held high. She wanted to be remembered as more than a cancer patient. She was a wonderful compassionate person that loved life and lived it to the fullest. She was always so strong. Even as she was within hours of death, she got up out of her hospital bed and went down to a waiting room to be with the large amount of people that had gathered to be with her at the end. She was an amazing woman.
Kerry started a business after her sister passed away. She started making personalized memorial cards for families around the world that had lost loved ones. When her sister Maureen passed away in 2003, Kerry had made special memorial cards with Maureen's photo on them and a selection of different phrases Maureen used to say. People loved them so much that she was encouraged to make these for other people. She made tens of thousands of those cards over the next 7 years. She made the passing of a loved one a bit easier by making cards that spoke to the family personally rather than the traditional cards at the funeral home. She received hundreds of letters and emails thanking her for the cards. They explained that they helped them with their grief. This is just a sample of how special Kerry was. She was always thinking of other people and trying the help them any way she could. Kerry's sister Eileen has taken over the business now and continues to help families with the grief with these cards. MoMorialcards.com named after Mo.
We hope that by having this life celebration and fundraising event we can honor Kerry and help keep her memory alive. We also hope that the money raised through this event will help others and in some small way turn the loss of this beautiful woman into a positive thing. Please remember Kerry as a wonderful loving giving person that loved life with all of her heart. She thought being a mother was the greatest gift in the world and she was a wonderful mother to her two beautiful little girls. Kerry was made to be remembered -- just like she had written on Maureen's cards back in 2003.
