Sad news about Katie Allan (1996 British Jr Ladies Champion) | Golden Skate

Sad news about Katie Allan (1996 British Jr Ladies Champion)

CaroLiza_fan

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For the past few years, I have been complaining about the lack of coverage of figure skating in the Northern Ireland media. Like, the most successful Ladies skater in the history of the British Championships (Jenna McCorkell) is from our wee country. Yet, when Jenna won her 10th British title in 11 years, the only mention she got in the “Belfast Newsletter”(the main newspaper in Northern Ireland) was a single sentence.

Well, last night I found out that for the past few weeks the “Belfast Telegraph” (another of the “Big 3” newspapers in Northern Ireland) has been running a series of figure skating stories.

Unfortunately, it is not good news, though.

The stories have been about Katie Allan (now Scarbrough), the 1996 British Junior Ladies champion. Katie is originally from Gilnahirk, just to the south of Belfast. But for a number of years she has been living in Lichfield in Staffordshire, England with her Scottish husband, Stuart Scarbrough, and their 2 young children.

This is where it gets upsetting.

Katie has terminal bowel cancer. And they reckon she might only have a few weeks left.

Let’s put things in perspective – Katie only turned 32 a few weeks ago. She is younger than Pang Qing; younger than Fumie Suguri; younger than both Sinead and John Kerr; younger than Fabian Bourzat.

Although she is older than Akiko Suzuki (the current oldest Ladies skater competing on the international circuit), Katie is still young in the real world! And very young to be facing a terminal illness! :(

Since last July, Katie has been keeping a blog about her battle with cancer, which can be found at http://www.katiescarbrough.co.uk/

If you want to see Katie in action on the ice, she has uploaded a few videos of herself onto YouTube:

Katie Allan – 1989 Northern Ireland Open:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA9iIlPb4ho

Katie Allan – 1995 British Juniors SP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofUQtFcVdPI

Katie Allan – 1996 British Juniors SP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLu1kmWmG5M

Katie Allan – 1996 British Juniors FS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqNNQ9Ld-Zg

Katie trained at Dundonald Ice Bowl, which was Northern Ireland’s main ice rink for many years (it is also only 2 miles from Gilnahirk! ;) ). On Saturday night, there was a special ice gala held there for Katie to raise funds for 2 cancer charities, Bowel Cancer UK and Cancer Research UK. It was organised by Kerry Greer, and Jenna McCorkell was the headline performer.

Unfortunately, I only found out about Katie’s story yesterday when Jenna was tagged in a photo on Facebook. So, I did not know about the gala, otherwise I would have made sure I was there!

This is a very sad story, and my thoughts obviously go out to Katie and all her family and friends. But, it is good to see that she is making the most of a bad situation, and that her skating friends are rallying around her.

CaroLiza_fan


Links

Katie's Skating Profile:
http://lmcca.co.uk/katie/

Katie's cancer blog:
http://www.katiescarbrough.co.uk/

Bowel Cancer UK:
http://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/

Cancer Research UK:
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/

Belfast Telegraph 19th February 2013 (front page of newspaper, as shown on Katie’s blog):
http://www.katiescarbrough.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/katiescarbroughfront.pdf

Belfast Telegraph 19th February 2013 (continuation of story on page 8 of newspaper, as shown on Katie’s blog):
http://www.katiescarbrough.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/katiescarbroughpage8.pdf

Belfast Telegraph 20th February 2013 (website story):
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...brough-on-the-fight-of-her-life-29079160.html

Belfast Telegraph 8th March 2013 (website story):
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...-ice-gala-to-honour-brave-katie-29114807.html

Belfast Telegraph 25th March 2013 (website story):
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/editors-viewpoint/katie-an-inspiration-29151540.html

Belfast Telegraph 25th March 2013 (photo of newspaper story, as shown on Kerry Greer’s Facebook):
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/482339_10151393277191312_1333929867_n.jpg

Belfast Telegraph 26th March 2013 (website story):
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...oves-for-brave-katie-scarbrough-29151494.html


EDIT: Katie also has a fundraising page for the 2 charities she is supporting. It can be found at
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/Katiescarbrough
 

iluvtodd

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I have never heard of her, but this news is beyond sad. :cry: may her final days be as peaceful as possible.
 

CaroLiza_fan

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I have never heard of her, but this news is beyond sad. :cry: may her final days be as peaceful as possible.

Don't worry about it. To be honest, I'm not surprised you don't recognise the name.

Katie only did one full season as a senior (1997) before she had to retire through injury in 1998 (full details on http://lmcca.co.uk/katie/KateBritChamps.htm ). In that short time, she only managed to fit in 2 international competitions - the 1996 Triglav Trophy, and the 1997 Gardena Spring Trophy.

As her senior career was so short, it is unlikely that she would have come up on the radar of foreign skating fans. In fact, I probably only know about her because she is local. After all, I only really started watching figure skating during the 2002/2003 season.

But, thank you for sending such kind sentiments. I'm sure Katie will really appreciate them.

CaroLiza_fan
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
It's always terrible to hear about someone so young being so devastatingly ill. My sympathies to her and her family.
 

CaroLiza_fan

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Just wanted to let you know that there was a story about Katie's gala on the Ulster TV news this evening!!! :biggrin:

Now, I don't know if it will work outside the UK and Ireland, but here is a link to the video on the UTV website:

http://www.u.tv/tags/chapters.aspx?tagguid=5C4877E1-9CA5-4F6B-9882-D073FAB0A5A2

This video is actually the whole of the sports report, starting with local football. The figure skating part of the video starts at 1m55s, and lasts until the end of the video.

Katie and Jenna are both interviewed in the story, and they also show some clips of the skaters on the ice.

Admittedly, there are inaccuracies in the video. Like, they made it sound like Katie had only stopped skating recently because of her illness, when in fact she stopped around 15 years ago because of injury.

And they don't mention any of the other performers at the show - including Kevin van der Perren, quite a few local skaters, and some of the Belfast Giants (the local Ice Hockey team).

But, at least it is getting Katie's story out there to a wider audience.

Put it like this - it has been years since UTV ran a figure skating story, so this is real progress!!! ;) :biggrin:

CaroLiza_fan
 

cinnamon

On the Ice
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Sep 13, 2010
Thank you for posting. It in important for us as a big figure skating family/community to know what's going on, and we can pray for her.
 

Sheena

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 24, 2007
As an adult skater at Dundonald, I knew Katie (& her parents) years ago - she was always a modest & lovely girl, also a fine skater. Its a shame her career was cut short.

Between work & dicey knees, I haven't skated in a long time now & am really out of touch with things in NI skating - so I didn't know about this or I would have been at the gala too.

It is indeed a very sad situation.
 

CaroLiza_fan

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Just wanted to update you all on a couple of things that have happened since I started this thread.


Firstly, Katie has uploaded some more videos to YouTube. :biggrin: I should warn you, that all these videos were filmed hand-held. The TV video is a bit shaky compared to the original version on the UTV website, but it is still a lot better than most videos people film of TV screens! Meanwhile, the videos from the Gala are very well filmed! ;) :biggrin:

The first video is a copy of the Ulster TV news report that I posted about above. So, if the UTV website is geo-blocked, you will be able to watch it on YouTube.

UTV news report 28th March 2013:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKxBD432Xtg


Katie has also uploaded a couple of videos from the Gala.

The first one is absolutely hilarious! It shows a performance by the event organiser, Kerry Greer, with Katie’s brother, Chris Allan. Both of them are actually very good skaters, but you wouldn’t think it from this!!! :laugh:

Kristianna Smirnoffova and Kazimir Vladivarsky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8abthu1FNQ

Don't you just love the names they came up with!!! :biggrin:


The second video is a group performance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. I don’t think it is the finale, as it is clearly not the whole cast (as can be seen by the fact that Jenna and Kevin can't be picked out on the ice). My guess is that it’s probably members of the Dundonald club.

THRILLER:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNLhYQPhGDs

Now, I’m not the biggest fan of group routines, but this is actually one of the better ones I’ve seen. But, maybe I’m biased because I love just about everything about “Thriller” – the song itself, the dance, the whole concept of the theme!


As I told you in my original post, Katie now lives over in England. She has been working at Birmingham Airport for a good few years, and some of the staff there recently did a “Harlem Shake” in her honour. Personally, I have never understood the attraction of the “Harlem Shake”, but it’s the thought that counts!

Birmingham Airport Staff - Harlem Shake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ3mP1s443M

For those that are unfamiliar with British TV, I should explain who some of the characters are. The guy in the white overalls and white helmet is “The Stig”, the mysterious car tester on BBC programme “Top Gear”.

The pink thing with yellow spots is “Mr Blobby”, who was created by Noel Edmonds for his 1990’s BBC Saturday evening show “Noel’s House Party” (my favourite programme in the 1990’s!) Mr Blobby generally caused chaos all around him, and even got the Christmas No. 1 with his self-titled song in 1993! (Which is some achievement, when you consider that the only word he ever said was “Blobby”!)

The red thing that looks like a devil is actually supposed to be a baby! It is the mascot for BMI Baby, a budget airline that was created by British Midland and which flew out of Birmingham Airport.


I’m not sure when it was, but Katie recently did an interview on "The Bridge 102.5FM", a local radio station in Staffordshire, where now lives.

A Discussion on Bowel Cancer - Katie Scarbrough talks to Phil Dent:
http://soundcloud.com/1025_thebridge/a-discussion-on-bowel-cancer

Apart from the subject matter (of course!), one thing that really struck me about this interview was that, although she has lived away from home for so long, Katie still has her Belfast accent intact! Although you could hear it in the clip from the UTV report, it is more noticeable in this interview as she is talking for longer.

The reason I am pointing this out is that a lot of people from Northern Ireland loose their accent very quickly - sometimes even within weeks of leaving our shores!!! (The most high profile examples of this are golfer Graeme McDowell and singer Nadine Coyle). But Katie hasn’t!


On Saturday 20th April 2013, there was a 4-page spread about Katie in the Belfast Telegraph’s “Weekend” magazine supplement.

I took some photos of the story and uploaded them to Facebook, so that you can read them. Below are the direct links to each of my photos (so that you don't need to sign in or anything).

Pages 6 and 7:
http://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/552789_10152697599370538_257399456_n.jpg

Pages 8 and 9:
http://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/554818_10152697600310538_1322186312_n.jpg

Close-up of bottom of Page 6 (so that you can read it!):
http://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/66821_10152697601135538_969248944_n.jpg

Close-up of bottom of Page 7 (so that you can read it!):
http://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/528262_10152697601625538_1168402562_n.jpg

Close-up of bottom of Page 8 (so that you can read it!):
http://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/563576_10152697602255538_48899317_n.jpg

Close-up of top of Page 9 (so that you can read it!):
http://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/922986_10152697602905538_1016716031_n.jpg

In the story, it mentions a disco for her old school friends. That was actually held the night before the story was published. Katie had been planning to come home for it, but a couple of days before it, her Doctors told her she wasn’t fit enough to travel. Suffice to say, she was very annoyed!

Hope you find this interesting

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

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When I wrote my update a few days ago, I deliberately made it upbeat. Judging by the comments she had posted on Facebook during the past week, Katie was feeling very down. And I thought she might need cheering up a bit.

I thought writing the update in a more positive light might help bring some smiles to a sad situation.

But I'm afraid even Alastair Campbell wouldn't be able to put a positive spin on the latest post Katie put up on her blog last night.

A Brick Wall:
http://www.katiescarbrough.co.uk/2013/04/24/a-brick-wall

Reading that blog made me really emotional, in a way that I haven't felt for a long time.

I posted a comment on Katie's Facebook profile on Saturday morning, and later on we had a really nice chat. Now that I know just how bad her situation has got, it was really touching that she took the time to chat to a mere fan.

You may not realise it, but I don't know Katie personally. I've never met her or any of her family, and I only became friends with her on Facebook last week. But, I took up the role of letting the wider figure skating world know about her situation, because we are a big family.

I just hope Katie's final days are happy, and my thoughts go out to her family

Gordon
 

CaroLiza_fan

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As you probably know by now (I posted it in a new thread so that it would be prominent), Katie died yesterday morning.

Since the sad news was revealed, there have been many tributes left on Katie's Facebook profile.

Two of the tributes included links to YouTube videos showing photos from the Gala. So, since it was in this thread that the Gala was discussed, I have decided to put the links here, rather than in the new thread (http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?40919).


The first video was posted about a month ago. I didn't find it at the time, because the uploader spelt Katie's married name wrong (Easy done - I've made that mistake too!)

Katies Ice Gala 2013 1st Annual Bowel Cancer UK & Cancer Research UK For Katie Scarborough:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nEgSasst08


The second video was uploaded the day after the first, and includes a lot of behind-the-scenes photos.

Katie's Ice Gala - Team Katie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jqEe2hMUyM


Looks like it was a really fun night, albeit for very sad reasons.

Katie might be gone, but the memories will remain.

CaroLiza_fan
 

iluvtodd

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Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
Such a terrible loss. May she rest in peace, and may the happy memories of her skating live on.
 
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