The Queen’s community is remembering student Kathryn Stewart who died Saturday, April 2 at the age of 19, following a lengthy battle with cancer.

Kathryn, a first-year student in the Faculty of Arts and Science, had battled cancer for most of her life after being diagnosed 14 years ago with neuroblastoma. At Queen’s it was her goal to earn her degree in psychology.

Attending Queen’s was a lifelong dream for Kathryn as she followed in the footsteps of her grandfather Murdoch Robertson (Sc’62), aunt Sharyl Robertson-Cole (Con-Ed’88), uncle John Robertson (Artsci ’85, MDiv’87), cousin William Robertson (Sc‘19) and her mother Heather Stewart (Artsci’92).

When her family helped move her into residence at Watts Hall Kathryn kept saying “I can’t believe I am here and I made it.” 

A family obituary describes Kathryn as refusing “to be defined by her diagnosis and prioritized living a full life, having as many experiences with her family and friends as she could. She graduated high school with honours, earning numerous awards on the way.“

Kathryn was a proud ambassador for the SickKids Foundation, sharing her story and helping raise much-needed funding to support childhood cancer research and established her own fundraiser –Kathryn’s Krop 4 a Kure. 

A visitation will be held Friday, April 8, 6-9 p.m. at Jones Funeral Home (11582 Trafalgar Rd), in Georgetown. A celebration of Kathryn’s life will be held at the Norval United Church (14015 Danby Rd.) in Georgetown on Saturday, April 9 at 2 p.m.