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Benefit To Assist Ailing Teen

Family photo

Katie Sterling, seen with her mother Kim Teel, is fighting sarcoma, and her Dade City neighbors are rallying to help her family with the expenses.

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By JEFF SCULLIN

jscullin@tampatrib.com

Published: October 9, 2008

DADE CITY - Katie Sterling is a typical teenager. She likes to talk on the phone, hang out with friends, watch the Pasco High School Pirates on Friday nights and shop - for shoes and purses, especially.

That was before the summer, though. The 17-year-old from Dade City has been on life support three times since Aug. 21 and had a tracheostomy tube put in last week to help her breathe. When she's strong enough, she'll start 19 weeks of chemotherapy and six straight weeks of radiation to get rid of the sarcoma that's killing her.

"She's going to have to have some powerful chemo to get this," said her mom, Kim Teel.

Teel has practically lived at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg since the doctors found a large malignant tumor next to Katie's lung in August. She's taken an extended leave from her job - running the office for a physicians group in Zephyrhills - to be with her daughter.

Insurance covers most of Katie's medical expenses; but with the family down to just one income - Teel's husband Jeff works as a superintendent for a construction company - the bills have been piling up. That's on top of the emotional toll of watching Katie battle cancer and being away from home for weeks on end.

The family never asked for help, but the community reached out when word of Katie's illness got around.

The Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce is organizing a benefit Oct. 16. Seven dollars buys you a spaghetti dinner, salad, bread and tea - if you're eating in. After going through the initial 500 tickets they had printed, chamber officials ordered another thousand. Lots of people have also stepped forward with donations and to volunteer.

"I don't think I've ever seen this many people" wanting to help, chamber President Missy Lea said. "It's the community pulling together."

Friends know Katie as a serious student, a National Honor Society member, a girl with a bubbly personality and a perpetual smile who's always willing to help. She's also driven. Katie was supposed to have started dual-enrollment classes this fall at Pasco Hernando Community College - a first step toward the master's degree she planned to earn someday. And before she got sick, she was working as a cashier at Winn Dixie, saving money for a class trip to Paris.

Then there are the shoes, the purses, the flawless makeup and curly blonde hair.

"She always had a different outfit every time I saw her," said Samantha Blackman, 16, who's known Katie since elementary school. "She always had a different purse and shoes to go along with it."

A couple of weeks ago, classmates and teachers at Pasco High School made a big card for Katie and videotaped personal messages to cheer her up.

"They're very much supporting her," said Principal Pat Reedy. "The kids think somehow things will work out and she'll be back in class."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Spaghetti dinner benefit for Katie Sterling (eat-in or take-out)

WHEN: 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 16

WHERE: American Legion Hall, 37745 Church Ave., Dade City

TICKETS: The cost is $7, available at the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce, Dade City City Hall or Florida Traditions Bank

Editor Jeff Scullin can be reached at (813) 779-4614.

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