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Fundraiser planned for 27-year-old Campbell woman with cancer
Photo
Kevina Koval of Campbell, far left, recently learned that an inoperable tumor has grown onto her optic nerve, and she will soon begin 10 months’ worth of weekly chemotherapy sessions. She is pictured with, from left, her younger sister, Briana Koval; her nephew, Justin Latusick; and her identical twin sister, Angelina Koval.
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
CAMPBELL
In less than 24 hours, Kevina Koval will start 10 months’ worth of weekly chemotherapy sessions to treat the inoperable tumor that has grown onto her optic nerve.
The 27-year-old Campbell woman was supposed to start treatment last week, but the port that had been installed just a day before wouldn’t work.
It was inverted — something that “usually never, ever happens,” Koval remembers her doctors saying. So, she went back to surgery.
Koval also is dealing with the deterioration of her vision, which began about eight months ago. She can see only straight ahead.
In spite of everything, Koval said she feels blessed. She’s not enduring this fight alone.
“I’m scared, but I know I have to do this,” she explained. “I have a lot of support from people. They’re helping me to get through this.”
A support group on Facebook boasts 1,118 members.
In just a month, a total of $1,820, all of which will go toward Koval’s medical and travel expenses, has been donated to a GoFundMe.com campaign created on her behalf.
From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 23, Push for Kevina, another fundraising event, will take place at St. Joseph the Provider Hall, 633 Porter Ave. Again, every penny will help Koval.
The event — which will feature food, an auction and various activities, including a pushup contest, hence the name — is being organized by Karyssa Cortez, a fitness instructor and a longtime friend of the Koval family. She started putting it together about a month and a half ago, or shortly after Koval discovered the tumor in her brain had become cancerous.
“She’s never said, ‘Why me?’” Cortez said. “She’s been brave and strong throughout it all. She’s never down about it. I just think that out of anybody, she deserves help.”
Koval’s medical problems began several years ago. At 19, she underwent brain surgery after doctors discovered a tumor on her hypothalamus, a section of the brain responsible for hormone production. Because of the tumor’s location, it could not be fully removed, and a biopsy of the tumor turned out to be inconclusive.
Since then, she’s battled both seizures and a peanut allergy so severe that exposure has necessitated her being hooked up to a ventilator four times.
Koval also was having magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scans done every three months, but they weren’t able to see the tumor growing on her optic nerve. It was only when her vision began “messing up” that doctors found the pilocytic astrocytoma, which typically affects children and young adults. That’s why she’s being treated by a pediatric oncologist — one of many included in her team of doctors.
Surgery wasn’t an option; if the optic nerve were cut, Koval would be blind.
Koval said after her chemotherapy treatment is finished, she has an 80 percent chance of the tumor’s staying the same size, a 10 percent chance of it going away and a 10 percent chance of it growing.
She said she was caught off guard by the expense of the entire ordeal, including the cost to drive back and forth from the Cleveland Clinic and the price of overnight hospital stays.
She added that she feels “so grateful for anyone and everything,” and that she can’t find the words to describe the kindness that so many have shown her.
Among those people are members of her own family, whom she calls her “biggest support system.” She’s especially glad to have the support of her parents, Andrea and Kevin Koval; her identical twin sister, Angelina Koval; and her younger sister, Briana Koval.
“I can’t say thank you enough,” she said. “Just a thought or a prayer is enough for me, but doing all of this is just amazing.”
For information about Push for Kevina, or to donate, contact Cortez at kissi71793@yahoo.com or 330-501-5442.