A short story title for a long, challenging journey for Past President Kristin Crowe who invited everyone to follow her along a road that she never imagined she would be on.Twenty years ago, Kristin was the President of the Rotary Club of Belleville and describes herself as a dues-paying, missing-in-action Rotarian. In true Kristin fashion, she brought her humour to the podium when she said if people got bored listening to her, they could quietly exit and she probably wouldn't see them leave, but she would hear them. So leave quietly. No one left and you could hear a pin drop. Kleenex boxes were in abundance and the room was packed.
Kristin became a member of the Rotary Club in 2002, having moved back to the area with her two boys to run the family business. She immersed herself in Rotary, having grown up in a Rotary family, her dad being incredibly involved. She became President in 2007-2008, a special Rotary Year because Wilf Wilkinson was Rotary International President. One of our own. But not long after her President term, cancer entered her life with a primary diagnosis in 2009 when she was in her early 40's, her father had passed very suddenly the year before and her boys were only 10 and 8 years old. Their little hearts were broken and Kristin didn't know then how many times cancer was going to try and rewrite their story. Cancer consumed Kristin's life, but with determination she got back to living, doubling the size of the family business, running a marathon, elevation hiking, cycling through the Rockies with Lance Armstrong, raising $57,000 in 5 weeks for breast cancer research. Breast cancer returned in 2017, this time to her lungs, but again, once treatment was done, Kristin went back to living, adding to her collage of travel adventures. In 2022 following an MRI, alone and terrified, she was told that breast cancer had found its way to her brain. Following two craniotomies, radiation and complications from surgery and treatment, Kristin's vision was compromised and she found herself facing a mountain she didn't know how to climb! Kristin's brain was receiving only half the visual information, an incomplete picture that made no sense. And then came grief for herself, her boys, her family, losing her independence and the life she knew and loved. Kristin lost hope, but eventually, picked herself up and slow started learning how to navigate the world differently.
Kristin became a researcher, an advocator and almost medical doctor as she learned how to navigate the world differently. In 2025 Kristin did the Camino de Santiago with Rotarian Doug Peterson and Judi Rufo, two very special people and turned that walk into one incredible fundraiser, funding a much needed tissue processor for the lab at BGH!. Kristin explained the impact of her declining vision. Although the cancer appears to be stable, Kristin encounters daily challenges and the neurological effects that come with those challenges. Testing, digging, advocating, learning for herself alongside her doctors who are also learning. Still looking for answers, alternate treatment, possibilities, asking questions. One of Kristin's most important lessons was to completely redefine what strength looks like. Strength is not being capable or independent, holding things together, figuring things out, not needing too much from people. Kristin has learned that her strength is to reach out, ask for help, cry, accept her fears, her hopes, her sadness and finding that enormous strength comes from vulnerability, being willing to accept and receive service from others. Another lesson to learn is how to slow down, to become an observer, having the courage to sit in a quiet room and meet yourself there, to notice more of life without going anywhere. None of us know how much time we have and Kristin's focus is being here, intending to live, not waiting for the future, knowing life is precious. It can be messy, beautiful, heartbreaking, hilarious, unpredictable and Kristin is not finished living yet.