Unassuming Woman Turns Force to Be Reckoned With

Reprinted form The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s stories of hope email series.

Karrie Munkittrick was, in her own words, reserved and unassuming – an artist, wife and mother of two healthy daughters. Then a single event turned her into a one-woman army.  Her enemy? Leukemia. Not just any leukemia, but leukemia that attacked her tiny, two-month old nephew, Austin. The entire, extended family pitched in to support Austin, doing whatever they could, and sometimes just being there with him and giving his parents breathing room and time to spend with his big brother, Hunter. But when she wasn’t helping in that way, Karrie started thinking about ways to help find cures.

She found a way – Light The Night Walk. Her initial Walk reinforced her belief that Light The Night Walk was a great way to support LLS in the search for cures. The following year, Karrie became a team captain, getting people to join the “Austin’s Warriors” Light The Night team. She explains that asking people to donate money would normally have been difficult for her; but knowing that the money raised would help find cures for leukemia she became a dynamic fundraiser. As a team captain, she raised funds herself and acted as a rallying force, urging on her team, which raised more than $6,300 in 2009! 

This year, she found another way to help. As her husband Michael explains, “She’s been a light to so many people and it has changed her. Now she wants to go where few people would ever consider going.” Karrie is very pretty, both inside and out, and has long, beautiful hair. She decided to shave her head as a participant in LLS’s Totally Baldacious campaign, in which people raise funds by shaving their heads to show support and solidarity for patients who lose their hair during cancer treatments.

It’s been said that the quiet ones are the ones to watch. Thank you Karrie for all you do.