Main fundraiser photo

Kai Needs Help!

Donation protected
Our dear friend Kai Parham who is just 18 years old, native to Belize and now residing in Cayman with his mother and younger brother has recently been diagnosed with a large brain tumor. He and his family need your help, however large or small, in order for him to seek medical treatment in the United States. Ask anyone who knows Kai to describe him and you’ll hear words like “Witty, bright, energetic, charming, and yes, mischievous and thrill seeking…He loves adventure, nature and the outdoors. Whether it’s at sea for fishing and diving, or the jungle for hiking and jumping off waterfalls or scootering at the skate park, he is always seeking adventure. Kai was that child that was always moving, always asking question, always up to something. While recently visiting friends and family in Belize something in Kai seemed to change. He began sleeping more, didn’t show as much interest in the activities he was normally passionate about and seemed for the most part content to just idle away his day. Most chalked it up to him being a teenager with no real responsibilities to worry about. Even when he began to complain of headaches and stiff neck no one thought anything was wrong. His mom, Fiona, living in Cayman, began receiving calls and messages from her friends in Belize about Kai. Concern was the common thread and now the words being used to describe Kai were “dazed, lethargic, out of it”. From the sounds of everyone Kai was not well and Fiona made the trip to Belize to find out just what was going on. Fiona’s first moments with Kai threw her for a loop. Her quick witted charming son seemed to have disappeared and in his place was a person she barely knew. Kai’s motor skills seemed challenged, his balance was completely off, and like she had been hearing he seemed dazed and certainly not, himself. It quickly became apparent that there was something seriously wrong with Kai, he and Fiona traveled back to Cayman and a series of tests began. Finally an EEG and MRI shed some light on the situation. A tumor was found which was preventing proper drainage of fluid from the brain. Water on the brain was causing pressure, which as a result was causing many of the symptoms observed in Kai. Kai was immediately taken in for an emergency surgery to have a shunt put in to drain the fluid and relieve the pressure. Kai is now doing much better but this is really just the beginning. What happens next? He needs an endoscopic biopsy and treatment that is not available in the Cayman Islands. Kai’s doctors have referred him to the Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, a state of the art facility that deals with these types of cases all the time. This is where you come in. In a perfect world, things like this just don’t happen, or at the very least can be taken care of with ease with the help of insurance etc. In the real world it is just not that cut and dry. His insurance coverage will likely be exhausted rather quickly and will likely be lots of other incidental expenses (travel, housing and daily expenses for family etc). We, his friends would like to help Kai and his family through this fund. Anything that you can do, great or small, will help Kai on his long road to recovery.
PS - GoFunMe asked me to add the following:
1. Who you are: Therese, a friend of Fiona's
2. Where you're from: from Pomona, California
3. Your relationship to the parties you're raising funds for: friend of the family
4. How the funds will be used: travel, maintenance, and medical care as well as other expenses for Kai's treatment inTampa, Fl
5. Money will be withdrawn in the US through my account and transferred to Fiona's bank account.
Donate

Donations 

  • Elizabeth McAuslan
    • $50 
    • 5 yrs
Donate

Organizer

Therese Westby Young
Organizer
Pomona, CA

Your easy, powerful, and trusted home for help

  • Easy

    Donate quickly and easily.

  • Powerful

    Send help right to the people and causes you care about.

  • Trusted

    Your donation is protected by the  GoFundMe Giving Guarantee.