Community mourns loss of multi-time cancer survivor
Tampa – “She certainly left her mark on this Earth; as she not only showed us how to live, but how to die.”
That was just a snippet of the announcement made by mother – Robbinsville Middle School principal Tonia Walsh – Friday morning.
But just that one sentence encompassed Kortne Waginger. Condolences and tributes flooded social media as the news spread that the 31-year-old had passed away at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla.
“Her quick wit and sense of humor were amazing,” Tonia’s post continued. “Kortne knew her fate, but she was determined to use her battle to help doctors learn and make things better for those in the future.
“I think she achieved this goal in true Kortne over achieving fashion.”
The daughter of Tonia and Robbinsville High School head football coach Dee Walsh, Kortne was born in Sylva in 1990. She later graduated from Hayesville High School in 2008, before attending Western Carolina University and receiving a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Waginger also met her husband Brigham at Western; he played for the Catamounts basketball team, while she was a cheerleader for the institution.
But it was her heroics throughout life that she will most fondly be remembered for. While many battle cancer once, twice – maybe three times – Kortne encountered the disease on seven different instances, beginning with a sarcoma diagnosis at the age of 9.
Her constant fight inspired a story on livinglfs.org, a website dedicated to those afflicted with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, a genetic mutation of the TP53 tumor suppression gene. Kortne was diagnosed with the syndrome in 2017, which imposes a greater risk at developing cancer more than once.
“I stopped thinking I have to have a 5-year plan or a 10-year plan and learned to just live,” reads a portion of Kortne’s story on livinglfs.org, penned in 2018. “I have faith in God’s plan for my life and that good will come from the bad.”
“Tough as a pine knot and prettier than any sunset I’ve ever seen,” read a post by Maria Shook. “The light that this beautiful warrior put out into the world will go on forever.”
“It has been said that it is through small, daily acts of courage, that you claim your life, shape your experiences, form the character of who you wish to be and who you will become,” read a piece of a post on the Graham County Schools’ Facebook page Sunday.
“If we could all be a little more like Kortne, this world would be a better place.”
Kortne’s funeral will be Saturday at Lone Oak Baptist Church.