Kinley had just started Kindergarten in the fall of 2017. We started noticing bruises on her but assumed it was from her playing rough at recess. One day, she was sitting next to her sister and looked very pale. Her pediatrician sent us to the hospital to get Kinley’s blood drawn. Within a few hours, we received a phone call saying we needed to take Kinley to Level 11 at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City.
When we arrived at the hospital, we walked off the elevator and saw “University of Iowa Dance Marathon Pediatric Cancer Center.” It was devastating reading the word cancer. The nurses quickly hooked Kinley up to an IV and gave her several blood transfusions because her platelet and hemoglobin levels were dangerously low. The following day, October 1, 2017, we received the devastating news that Kinley had acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The first month was very difficult. She had surgery to have a port placed in her chest so she could have blood drawn and receive IV chemo through her port. Kinley was on steroids for 28 days straight. They made her hungry and cranky. Her poor cheeks and stomach were so big and tight. She felt miserable. The chemo treatments also gave Kinley mouth sores. We had to puree all her food just so she could eat. She would endure numerous blood transfusions, several lumbar punctures, PEG shots injected into her muscle, multiple hospital stays due to fevers and too many pills to count for 802 days. On December 12, 2019, Kinley finished her last chemo treatment and got to ring the bell with all the nurses and doctors on the 11th floor.
Today, Kinley is a happy, healthy, 10-year-old girl that loves to play volleyball and basketball. When Kinley grows up, she wants to be a pediatric oncology nurse.
NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity working to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.
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