MEQUON — Kimberly Paulson has a more personal appreciation for the importance of cancer research than many. For Paulson, cancer research doesn’t mean a walk or a benefit or a fundraising campaign.
It’s all of those things, certainly — but for Paulson, it’s also much, much more.
It’s the life of her daughter Emma, a two-time survivor of leukemia. It’s the lives of the 46 children who are diagnosed with cancer every day in the United States, so many of whom Paulson has known and loved. It’s the lives of her first-grade students at Lumen Christi Parish School in Mequon, any one of whom could one day rely upon the innovative treatments that will be made possible by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s $100 million Children’s Initiative.
So it’s for them that Paulson accepted the nomination for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Woman of the Year Award.
“I want to be a voice for the children and I want to be a champion for them,” said Paulson, a Mequon resident and a mom of three.
The Man and Woman of the Year Award is a 10-week fundraising competition that launched March 31 and runs until June 11, when it will conclude with an event at the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. Nominees compete all over the country to raise the most money for blood cancer research. Paulson is competing against three other women for the LLS’ Milwaukee region title.
She was nominated by the parents of two former pupils who also won the award in recent years. “I thought, no, I’m the wrong person, you don’t want me,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I have the background it takes, as a first-grade teacher. I don’t work in finance, I don’t work in the business world — I work with children.”
But ultimately, it was the possibility of highlighting the Children’s Initiative that compelled her to accept.
“I feel like research for children’s cancers are so underfunded and to be able to be a voice and to speak out and let everyone know that the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is helping these kids — I don’t want to let them down,” she said.
The Paulson family’s journey with cancer began in 2012, when 16-year-old Emma was diagnosed with leukemia. Her initial battle with the disease would last for two-and-a-half years and was devastating for Paulson to witness.
“It was really awful to watch, especially those first ten months, seeing a child so unbelievably sick,” she said. Her daughter went into remission, but the cancer returned in 2016, and this time treatment took an even bigger toll on her daughter.
“It was very harsh. They had to do everything they could to kill the cancer so I could be in a good spot for a bone marrow transplant. (My mom) was there for every appointment. She was there every night. I was in the hospital for a month straight, and I think there was only thirty minutes when I didn’t have my mom or dad with me,” said Emma Paulson. “She took a lot of time off of school and put everything on hold to be my primary caretaker.”
Eventually, Paulson’s son Steven would donate his bone marrow to save the life of his sister.
“Everyone talks about how hard a bone marrow transplant is, but it was a walk in the park compared to what I went through with chemo and the side effects of that,” said Emma Paulson.
Today, Emma Paulson is cancer-free and works as an oncology nurse. Her mom hopes that a new generation of supporters for cancer research will result in treatments for future patients that are less toxic and more effective than the ones that her daughter had to endure. “Emma had a really, really hard time with her treatment both times, and there are new, cutting-edge therapies that are coming — immunotherapy, for example, which is much safer, much less harsh and has fewer long-term side effects,” said Paulson.
“I’m healthy now, but I definitely have long-term side effects. The fact is, my body’s age is probably like 70 years old from everything I’ve been through,” said Emma Paulson. “There needs to be a safer way to get to where I am, so other moms don’t have to watch their kids be brought to the brink of death just to stay alive.”
In support of Paulson’s Woman of the Year campaign, Edible Impressions of Mequon is offering the opportunity for donors to buy DIY Cookie Kits that will be sent directly to children battling cancer. The kits cost $40, fifty percent of which will be donated directly to Paulson’s fundraising efforts.
“It speaks so much to who I am and what my goal is — I’m a teacher, I love children, I’m geared towards making the children happy and giving them fun things to do,” said Paulson. “But not only is it fun for them, but it’s calories, because these kids lose a lot of weight during treatment and it’s important for them to have something appealing to eat.”
“I’m very proud of her for doing this,” said Emma Paulson. “She’s working hard. She doesn’t stop.”
Paulson’s Woman of the Year fundraising team has a $150,000 goal. To learn more about Paulson and to donate in support of her nomination, visit pages.lls.org/mwoy/wi/wi22/kpaulson. To purchase a DIY Cookie Kit for a childhood cancer patient, visit edibleimpressions.net.
