From chemotherapy to the Chesapeake: An 11-year-old’s day under sail

The towering structure of the Bay Bridge couldn’t be missed for miles, but 11-year-old Kori Patterson didn’t dare take her eyes off it. One finger wrapped in a neon bandage, she gripped the wheel of the Anneliese, a 40-foot Beneteau sailboat, and guided it beneath the bridge on the Chesapeake Bay.

Close by sat Vicki Saporta, board president and lead captain at Sails of Hope Chesapeake, watching Patterson’s navigation.

“The greatest gift I can give anyone is to take them sailing,” Saporta said. “And looks like we have a natural here.”

Saporta spent her youth in upstate New York and learned sailing at summer camp at 11 years old.

Patterson, who lives in Owings Mills, has been in remission for three years from Wilms tumor, also known as nephroblastoma. It is the most common type of kidney cancer in children and typically affects those under age 5. Patterson was diagnosed in 2018 at Stage 3 and received treatment mostly through chemotherapy. Although the survival rate for nephroblastoma is high, the impact of the chemo treatments is long-lasting, often causing organ damage. She now lives with one kidney.

Sails of Hope Chesapeake, a primarily volunteer-run organization established in 2022, has conducted 367 sails in four years benefiting 1,748 people affected by cancer. Its mission is offsetting the mental and emotional challenges through hope, renewal, healing and joy. It anticipates about 140 sails this season.

Patterson’s mother, Diona Harrington, found out about the sailing trip through the Cool Kids Campaign, which is a nonprofit devoted to improving the quality of life for pediatric oncology patients.

Despite her health hurdles, Patterson leads a full life. She is set to graduate fifth grade next week at Woodholme Elementary School in Pikesville. She recently wrapped up a three-day run of the school play “The Wiz” and her role, Addaperle, and fulfilled duties as president of the student council, and she has been learning to play the double bass — an instrument bigger than she is.

“She doesn’t like to be limited. Even if she doesn’t feel up to it, you’ll never know. She’ll never tell you,” Harrington said as she watched her daughter take a quick break from steering to look up and take in the structure of the Bay Bridge from underneath. “She gets tired but gets right back up. We are teaching her to listen to her body,” she said.

The winds picked up, and the family gathered on the bow of the sailboat, taking in the views of the bay during the three-hour sail. They basked in the sunlight, laughing and pointing at other boats and a bald eagle nesting nearby.

Crab baskets floated in the water, creating steering obstacles for Patterson, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Her biggest worry? Making sure her 9-year-old sister, Kannon, got a turn to steer the sailboat.

“Even when she was in the hospital and getting treatments, she was always worried about Kannon. People would bring her gifts, and she’d make sure that Kannon was given something too. That’s how she is; she is so maternal,” Harrington said. The sisters are only 22 months apart, also making them best friends.

“I just worry about her navigating those big hallways [in middle school]; she’s the tiniest one in her class,” Harrington said as she watched her daughter confidently navigating them on their journey. “But anything she sets her mind to she will do it.”

Neither sister had ever been on a sailboat. The Anneliese was donated by Joe Zebleckes, who was a volunteer captain with Sails of Hope Chesapeake. Zebleckes conducted 14 sails with the nonprofit before dying of lung cancer in 2023.

Captains previously used their own sailboats to take patients on the water, and now they use the Anneliese as their beloved friend’s legacy.

Mike Friia, board member and first mate at Sails of Hope Chesapeake, watched the family eat lunch at the built-in collapsible table the Zebleckes family once used on its own boat outings.

“It’s great that we wear sunglasses on days like this, because towards the end your eyes tear up,” he said.