Kendra’s Fight

On behalf of the entire family we thank you for your kindness and generosity and please keep Kendra in your thoughts and prayers.

Kendra’s Story

Kendra had typical symptoms after catching a bad case of the flu: a sore throat, fever and body aches. But as the weeks went on, We noticed that was sleeping all the time and loosing weight. It was very out of character for her to act so listless so we took Kendra to the doctor several times and at every visit, it was dismissed as an illness she just couldn’t shake.
Then, things took a turn for the worse. Kendra started to bruise easily and, several times during her karate class and at school, she would get lightheaded and almost pass out . After a series of blood tests, we were told that Kendra would need to go to BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver for a biopsy. On April 3,2017 the doctors sat us down and gave us a diagnosis we weren’t prepared for: Kendra had acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer that starts in the bone marrow.
Kendra was immediately admitted as an inpatient and endured two and a half months of intensive chemotherapy – but the treatment wasn’t working. Her only chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant. After finding a 100% matching donor, Kendra was given high doses of chemotherapy to prepare for the procedure. She had her bone marrow transplant in August 2017, which was followed by several weeks in isolation due to her compromised immune system.
Kendra continued to endure complications to her recovery. After her transplant, she developed a persistent cough and an unusual rash on her entire body. Doctors determined that it was caused by Graft vs. Host Disease (GvHD) – a life- threatening complication where cells from the donor attack a patient’s tissues. In Kendra’s case, it caused the most severe form of GVHD and attacked her lungs, this is called called Bronchiolitis Obliterans. Because of this, Kendra developed a pneumothorax, an abnormal collection of air in in the chest cavity – causing shortness of breath, sharp chest pains and oxygen shortage. That led to a painful condition where air has become trapped under Kendra’s skin. She underwent a surgery just after Christmas and is currently on medication to treat her GvHD as well as being on oxygen 24/7.
She sleeps with a machine to ensure she continues to breathe throughout the night.
Kendra has had many viral infections, fungal infections and skin irritabilities since her diagnosis of cancer as well as pneumonia twice all of which have landed us back at BCCH.
Kendra has been diagnosed with AVN (Avascular Necrosis) A condition where there is a loss of blood to the bone and causes the bone to die. Kendra has this in her elbows, hips, knees, and ankles. At this time we aren’t to sure if this is curable for Kendra but she is on medication to prevent further damage.  
This AVN is also why in addition to her failing lungs, Kendra is using mobility aids.
Since her bone marrow transplant she has medication induced diabetes and requires insulin.
Recently kendra came down to BC Childrens for follow up appointments and she just couldn’t breathe on her own and required to be intubated, this lasted a week until they could get kendra heathy enough and breathing on her own again. We have now been told that kendra again has two infections in her lungs and needs some serious and lengthy doses of antibiotics to try and kick the infections. While this happens we will be doing some research with our various teams to decide on a hospital thats going to suit all her needs as well as the families and decide on where we will be getting a Lung Transplant done for Kendra.
Throughout all of this she has had many medication allergies some of which have been pretty severe and she has been to the ICU five plus times. There have been several instances of being told Kendra may not survive what she was going through but she is still fighting. 

We are looking for donations to help cover medical expenses. Kendra’s mother has been unable able to work for the past 3 years because of Kendra’s continual need for support andhospital stays out of town. 
Any donation is greatly appreciated.