Kathryn's Funeral Fund
Donation protected
UPDATE:
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Kathryn Elise Child. She was a fighter to the end surprising everyone, including her doctors, with her resilience and happy attitude despite her condition and constant medical treatments.
She passed away due to complications arising from excessive bleeding on the brain post-surgery at 7:30 am June 1st, 2015. All measures were taken to save her life and the family is confident that the doctors and staff did everything they possibly could to save her life.
The family wishes to thank everyone for their donations of time, money, prayers, well-wishes, and continuous outpouring of love during this immensely difficult time. The support, love, and positivity you have all shown has been overwhelming and continues to be a source of great comfort. We ask that you respect the family's privacy during this time of grieving but please feel free to share your thoughts, prayers, and condolescences on this forum.
We will be closing the GoFundMe account shortly after the funeral but the PayPal account: [email redacted] and website http://www.helpkathryn.com will remain open for the time being. We will also be keeping the Facebook community open and active for the foreseeable future. Any further donations that are made to the GoFundMe account or Paypal account will be used to cover funeral expenses for Kathryn.
We will be posting updates as we receive them. Again we thank you for your support and hope you hug your children and loved ones tightly today. Life is precious and short, embrace it warmly and share it with a smile.
Kathryn Child has suffered from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia since the age of seven months. She began a two year course of chemotherapy and her leukemia went into remission. Soon after, she developed a Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in her left eye, leaving her partially blind. Once the CMV was under control, Kathryn developed pneumonia, an infection she has suffered from since early 2014. The cancer treatments left Kathryn with a rare condition eliminating her body’s ability to produce t-cells to fight infections. This condition is usually triggered when an infant undergoes chemotherapy and with only four known cases in the world, it is so rare it does not have a name.
We initially began this campaign to raise money to assist Kathryn’s family with the financial costs associated with this treatment including living expenses to allow Kathryn’s mother, Maribel, to remain with Kathryn full-time at the hospital. However, due to her recent passing we have converted this campaign to cover funeral arrangements.
Additionally, we request that you visit BeTheMatch.org to register as a donor and get tested to see if you are a match for any child. A transplant is what we were originally after and we hope you can find it in your heart to become the match for a person in need. The test is a simple cheek swap and if you are a match you could save a child's life.
Kathryn’s Story
Kathryn Child has had quite a journey in her short life. The night before Thanksgiving in 2011 at the age of seven months, Kathryn woke up with a dangerously high fever. Her parents took her to the emergency room where an oncologist happened to be on duty. After recognizing her symptoms, he ordered a blood test. Her results showed that her white blood cell count was over 300,000 (normal white blood cell count is eight to 12,000). The oncologist gave Kathryn a tentative diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and sent her to Rady’s Children’s Hospital. Kathryn’s parents would later find out that her white blood cell count went up to almost 900,000 and her doctors were worried she would not make it through the night.
At Rady’s Kathryn’s diagnosis was confirmed and her treatment began. She would spend the next two years in and out of hospitals undergoing chemotherapy and painful procedures. After two or three months of treatment Kathryn’s leukemia went into remission and her doctors thought she would make a full recovery. She underwent the full two years of chemotherapy treatment to ensure the leukemia was gone for good. About three months after her treatment ended, Kathryn contracted a Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. At the time, her doctors just thought that her immune system was low. But, it took several months to get under control and partially blinded her left eye.
Shortly afterward, she came down with a bad case of pneumonia and went back to the hospital. She has been in and out of the hospital for the past year with pneumonia. The doctors would think her symptoms were under control. But, after a year of treating Kathryn, the doctors recognized that her immune system was gone. They realized that, while the leukemia was gone, her treatments had left her with a rare condition which eliminated her body’s ability to produce t-cells. This left Kathryn with no immune system and an inability to fight off the pneumonia. At this point, Kathryn’s last chance of a full recovery was a stem cell transplant.
After much searching, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital agreed to do the procedure with her mother Maribel as the donor, despite being a low match. The transplant was successful in that it began to result in engraftment with her system. Unfortunately, as a result, her renewed immune system began to aggressively attack the paraflu virus inside her body causing excess mucus to develop in her lungs and an increase in CO2 levels. She was intubated and placed on a breathing machine in order to increase her airflow and help her breathe easier. Despite this, her CO2 count began to rise resulting in the need for an emergency procedure to remove the carbon dioxide from her blood. Hours after the procedure Kathryn began to show signs that there might be something wrong and a CT scan showed she had excessive bleeding on the brain, similar to that of a stroke.
Kathryn passed away surrounded by her parents and friends June 1, 2015 at 7:30 am.
The funds collected from this campaign go directly to support the Child family during this time of tragedy including funeral costs and any remaining medical expenses incurred. The family asks that you still register with Bethematch.org to help save lives of countless other children in need.
Thank you for everyone's support and generosity during this time. It has been overwhelming, to say the least.
Click here to join the bone marrow registry!
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It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Kathryn Elise Child. She was a fighter to the end surprising everyone, including her doctors, with her resilience and happy attitude despite her condition and constant medical treatments.
She passed away due to complications arising from excessive bleeding on the brain post-surgery at 7:30 am June 1st, 2015. All measures were taken to save her life and the family is confident that the doctors and staff did everything they possibly could to save her life.
The family wishes to thank everyone for their donations of time, money, prayers, well-wishes, and continuous outpouring of love during this immensely difficult time. The support, love, and positivity you have all shown has been overwhelming and continues to be a source of great comfort. We ask that you respect the family's privacy during this time of grieving but please feel free to share your thoughts, prayers, and condolescences on this forum.
We will be closing the GoFundMe account shortly after the funeral but the PayPal account: [email redacted] and website http://www.helpkathryn.com will remain open for the time being. We will also be keeping the Facebook community open and active for the foreseeable future. Any further donations that are made to the GoFundMe account or Paypal account will be used to cover funeral expenses for Kathryn.
We will be posting updates as we receive them. Again we thank you for your support and hope you hug your children and loved ones tightly today. Life is precious and short, embrace it warmly and share it with a smile.
Kathryn Child has suffered from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia since the age of seven months. She began a two year course of chemotherapy and her leukemia went into remission. Soon after, she developed a Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in her left eye, leaving her partially blind. Once the CMV was under control, Kathryn developed pneumonia, an infection she has suffered from since early 2014. The cancer treatments left Kathryn with a rare condition eliminating her body’s ability to produce t-cells to fight infections. This condition is usually triggered when an infant undergoes chemotherapy and with only four known cases in the world, it is so rare it does not have a name.
We initially began this campaign to raise money to assist Kathryn’s family with the financial costs associated with this treatment including living expenses to allow Kathryn’s mother, Maribel, to remain with Kathryn full-time at the hospital. However, due to her recent passing we have converted this campaign to cover funeral arrangements.
Additionally, we request that you visit BeTheMatch.org to register as a donor and get tested to see if you are a match for any child. A transplant is what we were originally after and we hope you can find it in your heart to become the match for a person in need. The test is a simple cheek swap and if you are a match you could save a child's life.
Kathryn’s Story
Kathryn Child has had quite a journey in her short life. The night before Thanksgiving in 2011 at the age of seven months, Kathryn woke up with a dangerously high fever. Her parents took her to the emergency room where an oncologist happened to be on duty. After recognizing her symptoms, he ordered a blood test. Her results showed that her white blood cell count was over 300,000 (normal white blood cell count is eight to 12,000). The oncologist gave Kathryn a tentative diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and sent her to Rady’s Children’s Hospital. Kathryn’s parents would later find out that her white blood cell count went up to almost 900,000 and her doctors were worried she would not make it through the night.
At Rady’s Kathryn’s diagnosis was confirmed and her treatment began. She would spend the next two years in and out of hospitals undergoing chemotherapy and painful procedures. After two or three months of treatment Kathryn’s leukemia went into remission and her doctors thought she would make a full recovery. She underwent the full two years of chemotherapy treatment to ensure the leukemia was gone for good. About three months after her treatment ended, Kathryn contracted a Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. At the time, her doctors just thought that her immune system was low. But, it took several months to get under control and partially blinded her left eye.
Shortly afterward, she came down with a bad case of pneumonia and went back to the hospital. She has been in and out of the hospital for the past year with pneumonia. The doctors would think her symptoms were under control. But, after a year of treating Kathryn, the doctors recognized that her immune system was gone. They realized that, while the leukemia was gone, her treatments had left her with a rare condition which eliminated her body’s ability to produce t-cells. This left Kathryn with no immune system and an inability to fight off the pneumonia. At this point, Kathryn’s last chance of a full recovery was a stem cell transplant.
After much searching, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital agreed to do the procedure with her mother Maribel as the donor, despite being a low match. The transplant was successful in that it began to result in engraftment with her system. Unfortunately, as a result, her renewed immune system began to aggressively attack the paraflu virus inside her body causing excess mucus to develop in her lungs and an increase in CO2 levels. She was intubated and placed on a breathing machine in order to increase her airflow and help her breathe easier. Despite this, her CO2 count began to rise resulting in the need for an emergency procedure to remove the carbon dioxide from her blood. Hours after the procedure Kathryn began to show signs that there might be something wrong and a CT scan showed she had excessive bleeding on the brain, similar to that of a stroke.
Kathryn passed away surrounded by her parents and friends June 1, 2015 at 7:30 am.
The funds collected from this campaign go directly to support the Child family during this time of tragedy including funeral costs and any remaining medical expenses incurred. The family asks that you still register with Bethematch.org to help save lives of countless other children in need.
Thank you for everyone's support and generosity during this time. It has been overwhelming, to say the least.
Click here to join the bone marrow registry!
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Organizer
Brian Child
Organizer
Vista, CA
