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Lee's Summit, MO —
Kim McKay’s life was great at the time of her sudden and tragic death. She died in early December. In October, Kim married her longtime friend, Jim McKay. In November, a check up revealed her body was breast cancer free. Finally, Kim had recently established a cancer support program.
McKay, 56, of Independence, was instrumental in bring the support program called Seven Levels of Healing to the Kansas City Cancer Centers.
Kim attended a seminar in Colorado two years ago that discussed how to start up a cancer support program. She also attended a session when she was fighting breast cancer. Overwhelmed, Kim decided Kansas City Cancer Centers needed the program.
“She felt very strongly that the program needed to be in the Kansas City Cancer Center,” Jim says. “She was really the force behind it.”
Getting the program implemented was an uphill climb says Mindy Swayne, a friend and former colleague at the Kansas City Cancer Center East in Lee’s Summit, where Kim worked.
“She was tenacious,” Swayne says. “In her very quiet and behind-the-scene way, she just kept talking about it and kept talking to different people.”
Last year, Kim got the Seven Levels of Healing at the center.
The Seven Levels of Healing brings cancer patients and their family members together to talk about the spiritual and emotional aspects of fighting cancer.
Kim was the instructor. “She loved those sessions,” Swayne says. “They just filled up her spirit and (had) given her a new direction in her career.”
The group met on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009, at a KCC in Kansas City.
Jim recalls that day. Only pain and shock he recalls, however.
She was driving home on Interstate 470. She made it past the Grandview Triangle.
It was 9:24 p.m. For reasons unknown, Jim says, Kim smashed into a car that was stopped on the side of the interstate. The car’s airbags deployed.
Her charcoal gray Honda Accord then was struck in the back by a sport utility vehicle. Without air bag support, the “trauma was too great,” Jim says.
Kim died inside the car.
Jim called her several times after she had phoned him earlier that evening once she left the cancer center.
Concerned, he began driving to the center. He then drove back, retracing Kim’s route home.
He met the police cars, the flashing lights.
He pulled over to ask officers who were diverting traffic off a arterial road what was going on, that he was looking for his wife who he couldn’t contact.
Kim McKay’s life was great at the time of her sudden and tragic death. She died in early December. In October, Kim married her longtime friend, Jim McKay. In November, a check up revealed her body was breast cancer free. Finally, Kim had recently established a cancer support program.
McKay, 56, of Independence, was instrumental in bring the support program called Seven Levels of Healing to the Kansas City Cancer Centers.
Kim attended a seminar in Colorado two years ago that discussed how to start up a cancer support program. She also attended a session when she was fighting breast cancer. Overwhelmed, Kim decided Kansas City Cancer Centers needed the program.
“She felt very strongly that the program needed to be in the Kansas City Cancer Center,” Jim says. “She was really the force behind it.”
Getting the program implemented was an uphill climb says Mindy Swayne, a friend and former colleague at the Kansas City Cancer Center East in Lee’s Summit, where Kim worked.
“She was tenacious,” Swayne says. “In her very quiet and behind-the-scene way, she just kept talking about it and kept talking to different people.”
Last year, Kim got the Seven Levels of Healing at the center.
The Seven Levels of Healing brings cancer patients and their family members together to talk about the spiritual and emotional aspects of fighting cancer.
Kim was the instructor. “She loved those sessions,” Swayne says. “They just filled up her spirit and (had) given her a new direction in her career.”
The group met on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009, at a KCC in Kansas City.
Jim recalls that day. Only pain and shock he recalls, however.
She was driving home on Interstate 470. She made it past the Grandview Triangle.
It was 9:24 p.m. For reasons unknown, Jim says, Kim smashed into a car that was stopped on the side of the interstate. The car’s airbags deployed.
Her charcoal gray Honda Accord then was struck in the back by a sport utility vehicle. Without air bag support, the “trauma was too great,” Jim says.
Kim died inside the car.
Jim called her several times after she had phoned him earlier that evening once she left the cancer center.
Concerned, he began driving to the center. He then drove back, retracing Kim’s route home.
He met the police cars, the flashing lights.
He pulled over to ask officers who were diverting traffic off a arterial road what was going on, that he was looking for his wife who he couldn’t contact.
The officers reached a sergeant who drove to Jim. “He came and told me it was Kimberly who had been killed,” Jim says.
Their 37-year-old friendship and a 2-month-old marriage had abruptly ended.
“I was in shock and I will tell you that there are days where I am still in shock,” Jim says. “It’s been a very difficult experience but there’s been a lot of support.”
Besides her husband, she left behind three step-children, three sisters, a brother and her mother.
The Seven Levels program will continue. So will her memory. Kansas City Cancer Centers have established a memorial garden in Kimberly’s honor.
Kimberly’s passion was being a nurse. For more than 30 years, she worked at hospitals throughout the Kansas City area. Kimberly worked at Independence Regional Health Center. She was instrumental, Jim says, for bringing an oncology unit to the medical center.
Kim worked at the Kansas City Cancer Center in Lee’s Summit for the last 10 years. She was a nurse supervisor.
Swayne, the practice manager at the Lee’s Summit facility, said Kim’s death has “left a huge void” at the practice.
They have promoted nurses but not yet replaced Kim’s position. “What’s not replaceable is her smile. Her spirit was so strong.”
“She was the most kind, caring and compassionate person I have ever known in my life,” Swayne said. “Not just with the patients, but with their families and the staff.”
Her faith was the driving force behind her dedication of coming up with new ways to help patients. The Seven Levels program is proof of that.
“Her belief in God and our religion were an essential part of who she was,” Jim says.
She attended the Independence Restoration Branch church.
Jim and Kim met at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa. He was from the West, northern California. She was from the East, Pennsylvania. They went their separate ways, but kept in touch every so often.
Jim’s first wife, Elizabeth, had cancer. Kim managed the nursing unit at the hospital where Elizabeth was going through chemotherapy. Knowing his longtime friend had a hand in helping care for her, “was a wonderful thing,” Jim says.
Elizabeth died of her cancer.
Last year, after Jim came back from a mission trip in Africa, they reconnected and started dating.
“Kim’s whole focus was about helping people,” Jim says. “When Kimberly walked into the room, it was like flipping a switch. She had a dynamic, loving personality that always sought the high ground, always attempted to find a reason everyday to be a blessing for somebody else.”
Two years ago, Kim was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. She received treatment at the Lee’s Summit cancer center, where she worked.
“She was like the poster child for the ideal patient,” Swayne says. “You would’ve never known she was sick. She was smiling all the time. I know she had rough days because we talked every single day. But she never let that show.”
A check up in November came up cancer-free. She beat the cancer. Life was great.
