Visitation
Friday, January 18, 4:00pm – 9:00pm at New Life Christian Center, 2045 100th Avenue, Princeton, MN.

CELEBRATION of Life Service
Saturday, January 19, 11:00am at New Life Christian Center, 2045 100th Avenue, Princeton, MN.

In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to The Karen Bromberg Gerold Benefit, 4100 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55407 or via this website.

Karen Marie Bromberg Gerold, aka Beans, Beaner, KB, Weasel, 41, wife, mother, step mother, sister, daughter, friend, auntie, passed away peacefully on January 12, 2013 in her hometown of Princeton, Minnesota after a tenacious battle with the aggressive disease, Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma. Her fight against this very rare form of cancer brought her frequently to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for treatment. Preceded in death by her grandparents and her father, John Bromberg. Karen is survived by loving husband, Eric Gerold, Minneapolis; mother, Jeanne Bromberg, Princeton; brother Michel Bromberg (Ariane), Rochester; sons, Dylan Gamec Bromberg, Ryan Gamec Bromberg and Justin Gamec, Princeton; stepdaughter, Addison Gerold, Minneapolis; dogs, Taylor and Bauer, Princeton. She married the love of her life, Eric Gerold, at a beautiful ceremony in the Boundary Waters on August 11, 2012. Karen graduated from Princeton High School and Northern Illinois University. She worked as a marketing executive at Grand Casino Hinckley and Grand Casino Mille Lacs before running her own successful marketing consulting firm. Karen’s career led her to be one of the most sought after Native American casino marketing experts in the country. She was a talented athlete, excelling at hockey, basketball and especially golf where she won numerous high school accolades and went on to play at the collegiate level at the University of North Carolina and Northern Illinois University, and at the professional level through the Minnesota PGA. Karen enjoyed traveling, camping, boating, fishing, hunting, hiking, yard work, softball, volleyball, entertaining guests and being the quintessential Princeton hockey mom. She participated actively in many charitable endeavors, including playing a key role in organizing and running the Rum River Ronald McDonald House Benefit golf tournament. Visitation: Friday, January 18, 4:00pm – 9:00pm at New Life Christian Center, 2045 100th Avenue, Princeton, MN. CELEBRATION of life service: Saturday, January 19, 11:00am at New Life Christian Center, 2045 100th Avenue, Princeton, MN. In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to The Karen Bromberg Gerold Benefit, 4100 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55407 or via this website.

Karen’s disease and untimely death came as a horrifying shock to all those that knew her; she will be missed immensely.

Friends:
My wife, Karen Marie Bromberg Gerold, passed away at 7:42 this morning. We are very sad. Karen died peacefully with her mom, Jeanne; brother, Mike; sister-in-law, Ariane and myself all by her side. Information regarding memorial services will be forthcoming. Thank you for all of the continued love and support.

Karen is hanging tough at Methodist Hospital in Rochester. The last chemotherapy cocktail that she received was not as effective as we were once led to believe. So we have shifted gears to a new chemo strategy in an effort to attack the disease from a different angle. This treatment has her feeling a bit worn out (as many of them do) so it is not likely that she will be able to respond to phone calls, text messages, emails, etc. Karen continues to fight as fiercely as ever and she truly appreciates all of the continued love and support. Happy New Year.

We are pleased to share with you that Karen was able to come home from the hospital on Tuesday evening. If all goes as planned she will be able to spend Christmas at home with the family before heading back to Mayo for her next round of chemo on December 26th. As you might imagine she is relieved and elated to be at home; it is a much needed break from the hospital after four very long weeks.

Click on the gift below to see a special holiday treat from Karen and the kids. Happy Holidays from the Bromberg-Gerolds!

See the gift »

The past few days have been interesting. Karen began experiencing some kidney dysfunction a couple of days ago. This was obviously an unsettling turn of events, but come to find out the cause was the result of something potentially really positive. As it was explained to us, when cancer cells are destroyed they produce things like excessive amounts of phosphorous as byproducts. Karen’s kidneys started to fail because they were trying to process levels of phosphorus in her body and in her blood that were off the charts. The hypothesis being that this particular cocktail of chemo that Karen just had impacted the cancer cells significantly thus the presence of all that phosphorus. So Karen was put on four-hour dialysis treatments on Monday and Tuesday to wash her blood clean of all that phosphorus. As it stands now her levels have returned to normal and her kidney function is also trending in the right direction. She has had a couple of really great days and is feeling energetic. We are hopeful that we will be able to return home sometime soon.

Karen’s feeding tube came out today. She is very relieved.

Karen just finished receiving her latest round of chemo yesterday. Because her symptoms came back with such aggression last week, the doctors changed the treatment strategy to another, more intense chemo cocktail. Things so far seem to be improving by the day. Karen’s abdominal pain has reduced and the chemo side effects this time around have not been as intense as the doctors suspected they may be. She has an NG tube in again to give her a steady supply of protein but we are hopeful that we can get it removed within the next couple of days. We’re not certain when we will be able to go home but we’re trying diligently to follow doctor’s orders in an effort to expedite the process.

Karen’s son Ryan’s hockey team had special jerseys made to show support for Karen during their tournament in Delano, MN this weekend. Karen was excited to receive the photos below sent by her friend, Barb Nelson. What an awesome show of support from the hockey crew!

We wanted to pass along the latest update on Karen’s progress in her fight against cancer. She has been at Methodist Hospital in Rochester for a couple of weeks and is unable to come home until her white blood cell (neutrophil) counts return to a safe level. We also learned this week that the presence of lymphoma cells in Karen’s bone marrow has grown. When she was first diagnosed back in August, her bone marrow contained 20% lymphoma cells. A test this week demonstrated that her bone marrow now contains 50% lymphoma cells. As a result, a new treatment strategy is being developed to address the increased lymphoma cell presence in Karen’s bone marrow. No treatment can commence, however, until her neutrophils return to an acceptable level. The doctors tell us that it simply takes time for them to bounce back.

Despite the monotony and frustration of spending so much time in the hospital, Karen continues to fight hard and maintain a positive attitude. Thank you for all the support. Karen reviews your comments here and on Facebook regularly and finds a great deal of strength in the continued love, prayers and encouragements.