“In April of 2000 Katherine, a 23 year old nursing student at UNC–Chapel Hill started having a dry cough and severe back and chest pain, she felt a crackling in her left lung as she breathed.  Thankfully they had just learned about lung sounds in class and she was immediately aware of what the crackling sensation might sound like through a stethoscope.  She asked the instructor to listen to her lung and the instructor suggested that Katherine go to Student Health. She was initially treated with an antibiotic for walking pneumonia.  When the follow-up chest x-ray 5 days later still showed the unusual spot in her lung unchanged, she had a chest CT scan which showed a tumor in her chest.   She was immediately scheduled to have a surgical biopsy.  Finally after waiting for a week, which seemed like a year, Katherine was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer.
         Within a few days after her diagnosis Katherine began an aggressive treatment plan that included twice-a-day radiation with concurrent chemotherapy.  After finishing the four cycles of chemotherapy, she had prophylactic brain radiation for five weeks. 
        Katherine continued taking classes over the next three years while she was treated with four more courses of chemotherapy and additional radiation.  Katherine was hospitalized numerous times for treatment and cancer related complications: pericarditis, achalasia, back and shoulder pain, and vertical double vision. 

        In May of 2004, our precious daughter proudly walked across the stage to receive her Bachelor of Science in nursing degree from UNC – Chapel Hill.  Katherine died on Feb. 16, 2005. About two months before she died, her friends started raising money to establish a scholarship in her memory in the UNC–School of Nursing.  The first Katherine Wilson Scholar graduated in May 2007.”    - As told by John & Ann Wilson