Kyla’s Story of Strength & Resilience

Hi there, my name is Caty Morris, and I am the proud aunt of the beautiful girl in the photo above — my niece, Kyla. This is her story of strength and resilience.

A Promising Start

Kyla was born and raised on Cape Cod, she is just 21 years old and is the oldest of five children — the youngest is only 10.

Determined to be the first in her family to earn a college degree, Kyla was driven and full of dreams. Last fall, Kyla was a 20-year-old student beginning her third year at Clark University. But as the school year went on, she began to feel “off.” She was constantly exhausted, missing classes, and worried about losing her scholarships.

When she came home for winter break, she decided to take the next semester off because she was so exhausted, even short walks left her heart racing. She spent most of her time in bed, telling her mom she could feel something wrong deep in her bones.

The Diagnosis

After several doctor visits and an emergency room trip, a routine blood test revealed devastating news — Kyla’s blood levels were critically low. She received multiple transfusions and was rushed by ambulance to Boston.

At 2 a.m., alone in a hospital room, Kyla was told she had Leukemia. A few days later, doctors confirmed the diagnosis: B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).

Since then, she has endured:

Leukemia doesn’t simply go away — it can go into remission, but sometimes only briefly. When Kyla first reached remission, everyone celebrated for a few days before truly realizing, remission does not mean the end of treatment. Due to genetic mutations, the leukemia would likely keep coming back without a bone marrow transplant. Everything was on track for an October bone marrow transplant until a routine PET scan revealed a mass in her breast.

The New Plan

Testing confirmed — the mass is not a new type of cancer, rather it is the leukemia that has formed a mass outside of her bone marrow. This is very unusual for her type of leukemia to manifest in this way.

A new approach was quickly put together and now Kyla is preparing for CAR T-cell therapy, a cutting-edge treatment where her own immune cells are genetically engineered to attack the cancer.

During that time, Kyla will be severely immunocompromised, and Katie will need to drive her daily — public transportation isn’t allowed. They will be there for up to 45 days.

When all this is done, they hope to go through with the Bone Marrow Transplant in early 2026.

‍ A Mother’s Strength

Katie is a single mom of five and one of the hardest-working women I know. If she could, she’d be in twelve places at once — caring for Kyla in Boston and her four other children back home in Chatham.

Through every obstacle, she’s led with love, strength, and faith. Katie is profoundly grateful for the prayers, meals, rides, and donations received since Kyla’s diagnosis. Every bit of support has meant the world to all of us.

But now, as this next phase begins, we need your help again.

How You Can Help

Prayers

Please pray for Kyla’s healing and for her siblings, who’ve had to adjust to so much this year.

Meals

We’re creating a sign up to facilitate meal deliveries to help keep things running smoothly at home.

Nanny/Caregiver Support

We hope to hire a caregiver on Cape Cod to help with rides, meals, and daily routines while Katie is in Boston.

Financial Assistance

Katie’s job in the shellfishing industry can’t be done remotely. She still needs to cover the family’s mortgage, car payments, gas, utilities, food while living in Boston, parking fees and the daily costs of raising five children.

A Family’s Resilience

This family has already endured so much— eleven years ago, Katie’s husband (the children’s father) passed away suddenly. Through it all, Katie has never stopped putting her kids first.

This isn’t just a story of illness — it’s a story of faith, strength, and love.

Kyla continues to face each day with courage beyond her years in a beautiful, private way.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading, praying, sharing, and supporting my family.

Every single act of kindness helps carry them forward.

With endless gratitude,

Caty Morris

Proud Aunt to Kyla