Surviving and Thriving with Kate Crawford | The James Protin Podcast

Kate Crawford is a nonprofit leader, fierce advocate, digital creator, and more importantly, wife and mother. 

Kate is no stranger to struggle and tragedy in her life. Kate's journey to motherhood led her to find a hope that would carry her through some of her hardest days. All four of her children were treated in the neonatal intensive care unit right after birth due to different complications. Her first daughter sadly died just 3 days after being born. Her twin daughters would just need some help to grow strong. Due to complications with her last pregnancy, she and her son nearly died. As a result of her son being premature, he suffered many life-altering complications.

Kate never wanted a family to feel alone during such a trying time in their lives so she and a few of her close friends created the organization, Project Sweet Peas. Project Sweet Peas quickly grew to become a national non-profit organization coordinated by volunteers, who through personal experience have become passionate about providing support to families of premature or critically ill infants and to those who have been affected by pregnancy and infant loss.

Kate served as the President of Project Sweet Peas until 2013 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer at just 28 years old. The cancer entirely covered her liver, both breasts, shoulder, ribs, thoracic and lumbar spine, and completely covered her pelvis. A diagnosis this severe gave her a less than 15% chance of surviving for 5 years. With little hope, Kate started a "Mommy Bucket List". Her twins were 4 and her son just turned 3 when she was diagnosed so her list was all the things she still wanted to do with her children, things she wished to do, and experiences she had hoped to see achieved.

Each year that passed after Kate's diagnosis brought more optimism but it brought many health challenges as a result of intense cancer treatments. Kate found out she had two cancer-causing genetic mutations and has faced three other primary cancers. In the past 11 years, Kate has had 179 treatments, a double mastectomy, oophorectomy, gall bladder surgery, lumbar puncture, radiation, broken bones from treatment and cancer, fluid buildup in her brain, blood clots in my lungs, hip surgery and heart failure.

One thing Kate didn't do was lose hope. Just as she did with Project Sweet Peas, Kate dived into the breast cancer nonprofit community, raising nearly $100,000 for breast cancer research and local organizations. She has traveled the country sharing her story to advocate for better patient-centered care practices in healthcare.  She works closely with local breast cancer community leaders to ensure Pittsburgh continues to be a pioneer in research and patient care.

When Kate is working as a cancer advocate you will find her volunteering her time elsewhere. Kate remains an active volunteer with Project Sweet Peas and spearheaded the global initiative, NICU Awareness Month. Kate volunteers for as many things that involve her kids as she can. She and her family still work on checking things from the bucket list. She has a large following on TikTok, where she brings humor to her diagnosis. She loves being an artist and usually spends her free time in her studio at home crafting.

As always, the visually inclined can catch it on YouTube, or listen in on Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.