Kathleen Reed "Katie" Bedingfield

Kathleen (Katie) Reed Bedingfield, 23, of Reading died July 10, 2021, after battling a brain tumor for three years.

In May, Katie graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health, a subject that became her passion after her diagnosis in 2018. Within days of graduation, her disease progressed quickly.

Katie loved UMD and college, having figured out very early on that the party before the football game is more important than the game. She was a member of the prestigious CIVICUS organization, which focuses on public service in the College Park, Maryland community. She also pledged Kappa Alpha Theta and loved living with her sorority sisters in the Theta house.

One of Katie's proudest accomplishments was as an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Dr. David Miyamoto, a Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard oncologist. Even undergoing the difficult challenges of cancer treatment that summer, she worked on critical research to help researchers find cancer cures.

Katie believed in the power of science - and never gave up fighting. She insisted all of us believe in a cure, and asked that her brain and spine be used to further critical brain research. MGH, Dana Farber and Children's Hospital researchers will use her brain to investigate why her trial drug stopped working and how to make it better. Always concerned about the greater good, she unselfishly thought of others before herself, and that will be her legacy.

Katie was born in May 1998 in Falls Church, Virginia, to Kelly and Jim Bedingfield and lived with her family in the Washington, D.C. area, Germany and Madison, Alabama, before moving to Massachusetts in 7th grade.

Katie is survived by her parents and her siblings whom she loved dearly: brothers Jimmy and Josh Bedingfield; sisters Courtney and Colleen Bedingfield. She is also survived by grandparents Maggie and Don Coolican and Maria Mines; many aunts, uncles, cousins; and the family dogs Gator and Georgie. She was predeceased by her grandfather Frank Bedingfield, step-grandparents Sarah Bedingfield and Paull Mines, and aunt Katie Coolican.

Katie was a 2016 graduate of Reading Memorial High School where she was a class officer. She spent her after school hours dancing at La Pierre School of Dance. An avid theater lover, she spent summers performing at the Young People's Center for the Creative Arts (YPCCA) in East Hampton, Connecticut, forging some of her strongest friendships.

For all her academic achievements, Katie was the family goof who loved to dance, eat junk food, post to her fake Instagram account and scare her family with her hapless driving skills. She infamously watered a fake plant at her college apartment — for months.

Kind, gracious and humble, she rarely wore makeup. Instead, her indulgence during tremendously difficult cancer medications was a nice mani/pedi at Tropical Nails, and a Boston Crème (if dad was driving). A veteran of numerous food service jobs, her favorite one was at the local Dunkin Donuts.

On Saturday, July 17, we will honor Katie with a Celebration of Life at the Reading Memorial High School performing arts center. All are welcome for coffee and treats at 9:30 am, followed by eulogies and fellowship at 10:30 a.m. A funeral Mass will be held on the same day at St.
Agnes in Reading at 2 pm, live-streamed from https://readingcatholic.org/funeral.

Katie's family offers special thanks to the Massachusetts General Hospital Neuro-Oncology team, specifically Dr Isabel Arrillaga-Romany, and the many MGH doctors and nurses who offered compassionate care. During the past month Care Dimensions hospice care nurses and aides were incredibly kind and thoughtful.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to brain cancer research at Massachusetts General Hospital. You can donate by referring to https://giving.massgeneral.org/, and designating "brain cancer research" in honor of Katie Bedingfield, or donate to the National Brain Tumor Society by referring to https://secure2.convio.net/bts/site/Donation2?df_id=3940&mfc_pref=T&3940.donation=form1. Katie fought so hard for three years, but there are very few treatments for aggressive brain tumors. She hopes that future patients will have access to a real cure.

For more information, www.facebook.com/BarileFamilyFuneralHome