Former IU student dies

Former IU student Kristin Rae Canull, 23, died Thursday after fighting Lymphoma Leukemia since 2001.\n"She was as beautiful outside as she was inside," said her mother, Kimberly Canull.\nServices will be held at 7 p.m. today at Randall & Roberts Funeral Home at 12010 Allisonville Rd. in Fishers, Ind. There will be a reception at the funeral home from 5 to 7 p.m.\nKristin began attending IU the fall of 2000 after graduating in December 1999 from Carmel High School. She intended on enrolling at IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis to be closer to home after she was diagnosed, but decided not to go back to school.\nIn March 2001, Kristin auditioned to be a Colts' cheerleader and made the team, but wasn't able to keep up with the other cheerleaders and didn't understand why. The next month, Kristin was diagnosed with Leukemia.\n"She was so strong for so long while she was sick," said Megan Crain, who danced on the Carmel High School dance team with Kristin.\nIn fact, Kristin was so strong, after she was diagnosed she was given only two weeks to live. She lived another four years, going into remission three times.\nWhile at IU, Kristin was a photojournalism major, a field she randomly fell into. Because her mother had been an art major at IU, she encouraged Kristin and her brother Brian to take art classes in high school, and photography became Kristen's art of choice.\n"She loved it," Kimberly said. "She had been hired by a local photographer while she was still in school to work in his studio and made exorbitant amounts of money." \nAt Carmel High School, Kristin was a cheerleader and a member of the dance team, the Coquettes.\n"She loved to perform," Kimberly said. "I think she took as many dance classes at IU as she did for her major."\nCrain, who danced with Kristin for two years in high school, said she remembers how people were just drawn to Kristin.\n"She was drop-dead gorgeous," Crain said. "Your eyes were just drawn toward her smile."\nBut it wasn't just Kristin's beauty that Crain remembers. Crain was one of two freshman members of the dance team, and she said Kristin went out of her way to make her feel included with the upperclassman.\n"I was a nervous wreck as a freshman at Carmel," Crain said. "She would always stretch next to me and say 'Hi' if she saw me out. She just really went out of her way to make me feel included."\nKristin's attitude toward Crain doesn't surprise Kimberly, who said her daughter went out of her way to fit into many groups in high school because she didn't want to be stereotyped.\nShe was stubborn, an animal lover, a perfectionist and paid great attention to detail.\n"Most people will walk out and say 'Oh what a pretty day,'" Kimberly said. "But Kristin would walk out and notice the dew on the grass"