Kenzie Rae

Makenzie contracted the hand foot and mouth virus in August 2014, from that point on her body went haywire. We started seeing a team of specialists at Texas Childrens in Houston and Dell Childrens in Austin. The specialist consisted of Cardiologists, neurosurgeons, gastroenterologists and a urologist. It was soon discovered that Makenzie had a Chiari malformation (a malformation of the skull that can cause her cerebellum to herniate into her brainstem) Makenzie progressively got worse and the biggest issue was Gastroparesis (a paralyzed stomach) this has caused months of chronic vomiting which led to severe dehydration and malnourishment on several occasions. All of her doctors brushed us off and weren't really concerned with any of it! Makenzie also has a PDA heart murmur that was scheduled to be closed in January but she has not been well enough for the surgery. Makenzies symptoms continued to worsen and on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, we brought her to Memorial Herman Children's Hospital after vomiting a lot of blood. She was admitted and MRI's were done right away, the MRI's revealed that Makenzie has several lesions covering both hemispheres of her brain. Her team of doctors here at Herman wanted her imaging from TCH. They were concerned that these Lesions weren't present in her MRI's a few months prior so that led them to believe it was progressing very rapidly. After comparing her new imaging to her imaging at TCH it was very apparent that these lesions were there in her last MRI's. It has also been discovered that Makenzie has a tethered spinal cord which could be causing her Chiari Malformation and several of the symptoms she is having. Genetic tests have been sent off to rule out other, life threatening, diseases. In the mean time Kenzie is going to have her tether cord released on Friday February 20, 2015. This will help to determine what symptoms are being caused by which issue. As many of you know an unexpected hospital stay can cause financial stress on any family. Between the cost of food, gas, parking, out side testing, and the missed days of work to be by Kenzie's side. The last thing a family should have to worry about is finances when they have a sick child. Anything you can spare is so very appreciated. Thank you for all of the support during such a challenging time. Please keep praying for Kenzie and her family.