Pancake breakfast raises $6,500 for Abagail Korth
February 3, 2025, 2:49 pm
Kara Kinna
The Wapella rink was packed on January 25 as people lined up for a pancake breakfast to help out Abagail Korth who is battling Stage 4 terminal bone cancer.
By the end of the day the breakfast had raised over $6,500, with money still being raised for Abagail on a Go Fund Me page as well.
The breakfast was organized by the Wapella Fire Department, since Abagail used to serve on the fire department. Abagail was at the breakfast and said she couldn’t believe the outpouring of support.
“It’s been amazing. The support from the small town—I am overwhelmed,” she said. “The community has really rallied behind me. I moved here in 2016 when our mine closed in New Brunswick and we really felt like outsiders for a long time, but since then we’ve really been accepted in the community and taken care of. It’s really nice, it’s home here, it will always be home.
“The fire department, it was such an amazing experience being on it with them and I made so many friends. They are amazing people and they will always rally behind their community. They always show up for whoever is in need. The community has been amazing I can’t thank everybody enough. The outpouring of support is unmatched.
“We are living in Winnipeg now, but this is home for us. There’s nothing like the small town feeling and coming back. There is nothing like it. Driving down main street, this is where I went to high school, this is where all my memories are. One of the first things we did when I got back is stop at Witch’s Brew. It’s home for me.
“It’s amazing to be here and see everyone again, and all my friends from high school and co-workers. Just to have the support of the community, it means a lot when you are fighting something like this.”
Abagail says her cancer is extremely serious and aggressive.
“I’m Stage 4 terminal, Ewing Sarcoma. It’s bone cancer. It’s a pediatric cancer actually, so it’s really rare to find it in someone my age, and rare to find it just to begin with, especially in the spine and pelvis where my tumors are located,” she says. “It’s a very aggressive form of cancer. I did in-patient chemo for three months, and then I did out-patient chemo for three months. We are doing radiation right now. Right now I am taking a little bit of a break to let my body heal, and we have a doctor’s appointment coming right up and then they are going to see what they think and how we should proceed with treatment from here on out.
“I’m not really sure what they are going to say because they have given us the prognosis of months. They don’t think I have a lot of time left, but we’re making the best of it.
“I’m hoping for a miracle and we’re grateful for every day. I’m so grateful that I get to see all my friends and I get to come home and see my community. It’s just been amazing.”
Abagail says the fundraiser for her has really meant a lot.
“The fire department set it all up for me. I heard from Russell Schick, we are very good friends with Russell. So they set it up for us and it was amazing. We didn’t expect any of it. They really came to us in our time of need.”
“The doctors have been giving us nothing but bad news so it’s nice to have some good news,” adds Abagail’s fiance, Seth Kennedy.
“If anyone wants to make a contribution it would be greatly appreciated. It goes to medical supplies right now, making our house accessible. I’m full time care now, Seth takes care of me,” says Abagail.
“My cancer is in the spine and in the pelvis and my L5 ruptured and collapsed on Christmas this year and that’s what led to me being unable to walk. My legs don’t work anymore. He’s been princess carrying me up and down the stairs. We are moving into accessible housing.”
Eyes opened to what’s important
Abagail says despite her diagnosis, there is a silver lining to everything she has experienced so far as a cancer patient.
“It’s a hard diagnosis. Being terminal is scary. And saying you don’t have a lot of time left is scary,” she says. “But it reminds us to be grateful for every day and love the life you have and hug your friends close. Because you never really know. I’m 24 and we were completely blindsided by this and it just reminds you to live every day kind of like it’s your last.
“Eat that piece of chocolate, say you’re sorry, tell that person you love them. Do the important stuff. Life’s too short not to be happy and to do what you want, and that is what this has taught us. It has been a really hard lesson, but also kind of a beautiful one in the end.
“If we get a miracle and something happens and life really turns around, that would be amazing, and if it doesn’t, I’m so grateful for every day that I got here and that I got to spend it with my friends and family.
“Every day is such a blessing and life is such a blessing. I think that’s what we really got in the end.
“It has taught me just to be happy and to try and be grateful for every day.
“You learn that cancer really doesn’t discriminate. When I go in for treatments I see young children, I see the elderly, I see moms, I see dads, you see everybody. You never know what people are going through and it really opens your eyes and puts things in perspective when you get sick. It really does open your eyes and show you what’s important in life.
“It definitely gives you a new perspective and shows you what’s important. You learn that little squabbles aren’t worth it, a rainy day isn’t the end of the world, you are just grateful for that day. It’s about the small things. It’s the small things that matter. It’s a good cup of coffee, it’s a good hug, it’s those things. It’s not that crappy bill that came in the mail. You learn that that stuff doesn’t matter and it’s not worth dwelling on. And I’m very blessed that I got to learn it at this age.
“As horrible as the diagnosis was, I was fortunate enough to have my eyes opened, to be able to see the beautiful things in life. It really is something.”
Abagail says she can’t say thank you enough for all of the support.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart. The outpouring of support, I can’t even put it into words,” she says. “The way the community has rallied behind us, it’s something special. It shows what a small town can really do.”
Anyone wanting to contribute to Abagail Korth can etransfer abagail.kennedy@icloud.com or visit the Go Fund Me page.
