Hi! I'm Katie and I have a Glioblastoma 

I currently live in Seattle, WA before spending time on a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Ship in Alaska and I have also lived in St. Petersburg, Florida for 8 years during and right after college (Eckerd). My life is extremely active! While I lived in Florida, I got into triathlons (like I was really good at them!). I raced mainly sprint triathlons that includes a 1/4-mile swim, 10-mile bike and a 3.1 mile run. I have also raced 2 Olympic distance triathlons and I even raced my first half ironman in 2014 at the Miami Man in November and came in 4th place!

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During 2014, I found out that I had been accepted into the NOAA Corps, which is a uniformed service (like the United States Public Health Service). We are not the military but we are considered a uniformed service. I went to the Coast Guard Academy for 17 weeks to train alongside the Officer Candidates (OCS). It was intense! But the cool thing about joining the NOAA Corps is that we are stationed on a ship for 2 years right out of basic training. Then we are stationed on a 'land assignment' for the next 3 years and flip-flop between those. I was stationed on the NOAA Ship Fairweather and spent the next 2 years up in Alaska. It was a tough 2 years, but Alaska is such a beautiful place. I do not regret that experience one bit!

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After my time at Fairweather was up, my land assignment landed me in Seattle to work at the NOAA Western Regional Center as a benthic mapping specialist. Sounds fancy (but it really isn't!). During this time I decided that I wanted to go back to graduate school. So, I discharged from NOAA in September 2018 and started my grad school program that same week! The program I completed was called MESSAGe (Masters in Earth & Space Sciences: Applied Geosciences) at the University of Washington. I flew through the course and graduated right on time in March 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic. 

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Fast forward to today: this last month I had the shock of the life. I was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. Yeah. Me. I have been a healthy human being. Actually, I had been an over-achiever! But cancer doesn't pick and choose. So, I will be starting treatment soon. Wish me luck! I will need it!