Round Lake Beach police plan fundraiser to help fellow officer battling cancer

Round Lake Beach police are rallying to help one of their own.

A fundraiser is planned for Sunday, April 26, at the Buffalo Wild Wings, 500 E. Rollins Road in the village, to to help offset medical costs for officer Kariann Hill, who is battling breast cancer.

The fundraiser will donate 15 percent of food orders purchased, excluding alcohol, to assist Hill. The coupon, which needs to be brought to the restaurant, can be downloaded at the police department's Facebook page or picked up at the police station.

The 26-year-old Hill, who has been with the department for three years and was named the department's 2014 Officer of the Year, said she felt a couple of lumps in her breast during a regular self check.

After an abnormal ultrasound, mammogram and biopsy, she learned March 13 she has stage-one breast cancer. The diagnosis would reveal it's an aggressive, fast-growing cancer, she added. She had no family history of the disease.

"I probably experienced every emotion you could think of. How could it happen to me? There was definitely shock, being scared and then determination," Hill said.

Hill and fellow officer Tim Schuster were planning to get married next year when they learned about her illness. They have decided to delay their plans to focus on Hill's treatment.

"After a few days, we came around and knew we had to face this positively," Schuster said. "Because she's 26 and neither one of us thought it was really possible for someone her age to have breast cancer, we thought we had to turn this around and get awareness that someone her age can get breast cancer."

Hill said she has been a proponent of self checks. Especially now, she said, she hopes her diagnosis will challenge people to be proactive.

"I can't sit here and tell you that I know what cancer feels like," she said. "All I know is I felt something that was out of my norm and that led me to go to the doctor and let them figure out what it is."

Within the Round Lake Beach Police Department, Hill has been recognized as a dedicated officer for her patrol work and the extras she does to support the community. She is in charge of the juvenile program at the department and gets involved in events such as Shop With a Cop, providing turkey dinners to the needy at Thanksgiving, the Cop on Top fundraiser to support Special Olympics and the Polar Plunge.

"It's comforting for people to know when they are at their rock bottom that they can reach out to us and we'll always be there to help as police officers," she said of her work.

Hill recently started chemotherapy and will have four to five weeks of treatments before determining if she will need a lumpectomy to remove the cancer and radiation, a mastectomy or double mastectomy.

Through it all, Hill and Schuster, who live in McHenry, said the department's support has been uplifting. Schuster said a group from the department waited in the hospital parking lot when Hill and Schuster arrived for her first treatment. The group wore matching shirts to support Hill and provided coffee and doughnuts.

"If I could have pictured the most support I could receive from my department, they have surpassed that," Hill said.

"It gives me strength to keep fighting. When we were on our way to chemo, I was nervous and scared for what's to come. When we arrived in the parking lot and I saw most of the department, along with family, wearing the T-shirts, it gave me this whole new feeling of determination."

Cmdr. Gary Lunn said law enforcement is a tight-knit community, and each department is a family that works together and puts their lives in each other's hands. Hill's diagnosis has brought them closer, and they are willing to do what they can to support her, Lunn said.

"She is a phenomenal officer and a phenomenal person," he said. "We'd do this for someone who is there one day or someone who is there 20 years."

When dealing with an illness like this, Lunn said, sick days and personal days can run out and out-of-pocket costs can build up as part of the treatment. Lunn said department members hope the fundraiser will help.

"That is our ultimate goal," he said. "We are going to do the best we can."

In addition to food proceeds helping Hill, those who come to the restaurant between noon and 8 p.m. that day can take part in head shavings, raffles, contests and prizes.

For information or assistance to obtain the Buffalo Wild Wings coupon, contact Lunn at (847) 546-2127 or glunn@rlbeach.org.