About Us
Laura Catherine Crawley Our family first met Laura Crawley in 1985 when she was a kindergarten student. She and Stephanie (one of the founders of WhatFriendsDo.com) were classmates and quickly became best friends. Their friendship grew and always remained very close. |
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Laura grew up in Indianapolis, attending IPS School 70, Shortridge Middle School, and Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School. She was always very close to her family, including sisters Amy and Caroline, her niece Anna, nephew Max and brother Jason. Laura graduated from John Carroll University in 2002. She majored in Art History. After graduation Laura was employed by AmeriCorps, where she worked with students from Indianapolis Public Schools teaching conflict resolution skills to elementary and junior high students. Laura was then employed by Indiana University Medical Center, where she worked in psychiatric research at Larue Carter Hospital in Indianapolis, She loved her job. Laura also enjoyed working part time at Pottery Barn Kids, babysitting, dog sitting and house-sitting. |
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Laura liked to run; she ran several half marathons and trained for the Columbus marathon the entire summer of 2005. She ran a 25-mile race on her 25th birthday, July 31, 2005. Laura also enjoyed rollerblading, listening to all kinds of music (singing along with more passion than style), windsurfing, going out with friends and laughing. In 2005, Laura enjoyed learning to play soccer on a local team. Two of her favorite things to do were skiing and spending time at the lake in Brown County. |
In August 2005, Laura started having headaches, but didn't think too much of them. They were annoying.
On September 1 she had a severe headache, so bad that it made her sick to her stomach.
The headache and nausea got worse as the day progressed. Since her family doctor was out of town
for the long Labor Day weekend, her mother took her to the emergency room at St. Vincent's Hospital.
That night, CT scans and MRIs were performed, and Laura learned she had a brain tumor. Later that
month she was diagnosed with stage 3 Anaplastic Oligodendroglioma.
| Laura had several brain surgeries and she underwent chemotherapy and radiation until May 2006. Throughout the treatments, the cancer continued to grow. Laura lost her battle to brain cancer on August 14, 2006. Laura had an incredible zest for life and was always the most delightful and cheerful person. Even throughout all of her cancer difficulties, she remained upbeat and seemed to keep everyone else's spirits up. She was very social and loved to have people around. Laura was very blessed with a wonderful family and lots of great friends. |  |