‘She’s a trooper’: Family of 4-year-old battling leukemia hosting fundraiser for research

More than a year since she received a heartbreaking diagnosis, 4-year-old Kinsley McLamore has caught a break.

Rob and Kelsi McLamore’s daughter is in “maintenance” with the acute lymphoblastic leukemia doctors identified on March 21, 2024.

After a series of aggressive treatments to remove Kinsley’s cancer, she’s now undergoing continuing care aimed at preventing its return.

“She’s becoming more cognizant of what’s going on, but she’s a trooper. She takes it in stride,” Rob McLamore said.

A rare bright spot on the Johnsburg family’s journey is the upcoming Kinsley Crushes Cancer benefit, taking place from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 12, at Lindy’s Landing, 115 Park St., Wauconda.

Held also to support family friend Emmy, a 6-year-old diagnosed with leukemia around the same time as Kinsley, proceeds and donations from the fundraiser will go to Alex’s Lemonade Stand for pediatric leukemia research.

The Pennsylvania-based Alex’s Lemonade Stand was launched after Alexandra Scott, a young cancer patient in Connecticut, held a lemonade stand fundraiser in her front yard for her fourth birthday.

Alexandra died in 2004 at 8 years old, having raised more than $1 million for childhood cancer research. Alex’s Lemonade Stand has since raised more than $300 million.

This will be Kinsley McLamore’s second Lemonade Stand benefit at Lindy’s. In June 2024, the family raised about $18,000 and Alex’s Lemonade Stand sent the McLamores a plaque for being a top fundraiser.

“We had a very good turnout,” Rob McLamore said.

The July 12 event will include a silent auction, raffle baskets, a DJ and a fire truck children can explore. Lindy’s will donate 10% of food sales when diners note “dine and donate” during the benefit.

Already, Kinsley is a budding philanthropist. Attending Nature’s Scholars in Ringwood, a learning enrichment center for children, she and a classmate who also receives treatment at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago donated 87 pounds of pop tabs to Lurie’s Ronald McDonald House, which translates the tabs to cash.

Kinsley has about two years before doctors consider the cancer to be in remission, her father said. A lifetime of periodic checkups will follow.

“Fingers crossed, we keep progressing forward and hopefully she’s cancer-free, and we can kind of move on,” Rob McLamore said.

Kinsley visits Lurie’s once a month for chemotherapy infusions and spinal taps. She takes one chemotherapy pill on weekdays, six on the weekends.

After being unable to walk or even lift her head during the first month of her treatments, Kinsley now plays soccer and takes swim classes with her 3-year-old brother, Cooper.

Another year of maturity has the inquisitive girl asking more questions and gaining greater understanding of her illness.

Kelsi McLamore is an adolescent psychologist, which helps. Though she and her husband don’t want to scare their daughter, the couple’s honesty helps Kinsley realize not everything is “sunshine and rainbows,” Rob McLamore said.

“We have to explain some things more, which is kind of tough, but she’s asking the right questions and we do our best to answer them,” he said.

“We’re now in a landscape that was unknown before, but we’re a year and four months into it and we’re getting pretty good at it — unfortunately.”