Join Miss Kendra in the fight against leukemia

Hi, my name is Carmen Sauer (Cook) and I am the Aunt of Kendra Cook. Kendra recently began the fight of her life and we are raising funds to help her and her family with the enormous medical bills they are facing to save Kendra's life.

Miss Kendra is a 16 year old horse loving, hard working, genuine & sweet girl fighting for her life. On February 10th, 2024 Kendra's health deteriorated drastically. Her parents thought she had the flu or possibly strep throat. She ended up collapsing on her living room floor as they were getting ready to head to urgent care, not being able to feel her legs, nor walk on her own. The week and a half before she had symptoms of a mild fever, fatigue, and a pale face. Now to know this girl is to love her. She is tough and gets things done, even when she is feeling the worst. The week of her symptoms she worked on school, did her chores (which includes filling water troughs, feeding and cleaning up after horses), and even worked rigorously with her horse Annie on barrels and her western pleasure horse Duke. Little did we know that during this week her hemoglobin (the red blood cells that carry oxygen to the body) was getting extremely low and life as she knew it was about to change forever.

Arriving at urgent care, they tested her for the flu, covid, and strep throat. All tests came back negative, and they said they could not help her and recommended they take her to Pediatric ER, as they thought she was possibly anemic. (This recommendation most likely saved Kendra's life.) Her parents rushed her to Sacred Heart Pediatric Emergency Room where they began asking protocol questions and doing a blood draw. During the blood draw Kendra began losing her vision and kept saying, "Mom, I can't read the time! Mom, the clocks are blurry!" As the moments ticked by Kendra stopped responding to her name and her communication became slurred. Everything was happening so fast and her body was shutting down. What seemed like mild symptoms the week before became the most terrifying symptoms a parent could witness. The doctors were finally able to give Kendra some medication to relax her and then they delivered the most devastating news a parent could receive, all signs point to cancer, most likely Leukemia.

On February 12th, 2024 our worst nightmare was confirmed. Kendra was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). For the next 6-9 months she will be spending a month at a time in the hospital. Her mother will not be able to work, as she needs to continually be at Kendra's side. The early cost estimation of this diagnosis is unimaginable. Any and all financial support or prayers are deeply appreciated. God Bless you for joining in our fight to defeat leukemia.