Meet Your Neighbor
Kelly Corbett
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent

Date of birth March 23, 1976

Likes most about Nantucket Its homey feeling. "I can't picture home anywhere else."

Likes least about Nantucket That it is losing some of its closeknit community. "I see a lot of my friends and family wanting to be here and not being able to."

Favorite TV show Gray's Anatomy Like most people, Kelly Corbett has dreams for the future. But Corbett, a creative, nurturing person, is more dedicated to and thankful for her family than anything else. This native islander and mother of four now knows how precious her family is after the Corbett's two-year-old daughter, Tatum, was diagnosed with cancer when she was just five months old.

Born to Bob Michetti and Laurel Marks, after graduating from Nantucket High, Corbett attended Bradford College in Haverhill, Mass., where she spent four years majoring in dance with a minor in expressive art therapy. She met her future husband, Scott, while she was at NHS. They were engaged during her college years and married following her college graduation. Scott, who used to live on the Cape, is a plumber with the J.M. Ramos company.

After their wedding, Corbett worked at Vis a Vis for two years until she had their first child, Isaac, now seven. Though she then became a stayat home mom as sons Boden, five, Porter, four, and daughter Tatum were born, Corbett helped working mothers by caring for their children during school vacations and other necessary times and maintained her long involvement choreographing and chaperoning for Junior Miss.

"I love to choreograph and I love children and dancing, so it's the best of both worlds and I can still tend to my family and not be overwhelmed," she said.

But there were tough months when Tatum became ill. At first it seemed she just had a bad cold, but an x-ray prompted suspicion of something more complicated. When the baby was seen by a lung specialist it was found that she had a rare children's cancer called neuroblastoma. One month after the diagnosis Tatum's tumor was removed, and just in time before it spread to her spine and brain. Corbett said her daughter tested cancerfree last October but has regular exams at the Dana Farber Jimmy Fund Children's Clinic in Boston.

"We were given the best case scenario in what seemed like an awful situation," said Corbett, describing the toddler as a spit-fire. "She isn't skipping a beat, that's for sure."

In the last couple of years, Corbett has become involved with fundraising for cancer research, an experience that has altered her life.

"It is the most amazing experience I've ever had," she said. "It's funny how people can change your destiny, even if you don't know them that well. I just know I have to be doing something on these lines."

When Tatum enters pre-school this fall, Corbett wants to use her creative talents by holding dance lessons for youth. She also enjoys baking, photography, home improvement projects, party planning and crafts.

"My family makes fun of me as a Martha Stewart wannabe," she said, noting that she is able to take part in so many things because of the support of her family. "I really feel like I have everything I've ever wanted in my life. I'm really content

right now with my life." I