The world has lost the most loving, joyous, hilarious, remarkable human being I've ever known.

If you met Kristin even once, you felt seen and appreciated, and you wanted to talk to her forever. I fell in love with her the instant we locked eyes at 3:30am at that Lower East Side 80's dance club 18 years ago; it's been such a blessing ever since. If you knew her as a friend or co-worker or daughter or sister or dance floor buddy or auntie or cat/dog/lamb/pot-bellied pig(!) owner or neighbor or mom, you know that she is just the absolute best human being on the planet.

Kristin passed away peacefully in her bed this afternoon after a nine-year battle with a rare form of cancer called liposarcoma. She fought this terrible disease with incredible strength and optimism (and a wonderful team at UW/Fred Hutch). She endured four major surgeries, 12-pound tumors, nine chemo- and immunotherapies, countless hospitalizations...but she never lost that magical spark. Even in these last days when she could only muster a word or two, she could still make a nurse she had just met fall in love with her. That spark was undeniable. Edison carries that spark in him - I see it every time I look at him. She taught us to all carry a bit of it too.

At the end, she cried that life had given her all she had ever dreamed of, except for more time. But in those short years, she projected an unbelievable beam of love from her soul to the world that will last long after she's gone.

We are really going to miss her.

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