Kyla is a warrior!!

On Wednesday, December 15th, my sister, Kyla, found herself in the emergency room in excruciating pain. 7 years earlier, Kyla lost her entire large intestine and colon, so stomach pain was something she had been used to for many years, but this was a pain like she had never experienced before and the doctors knew something was wrong, very wrong. They soon realized she had a small intestine obstruction, and, possibly, multiple obstructions. Although every scan, test, x-ray, and scope were ordered, the doctors could not pinpoint the obstruction or determine the origin of the pain. Finally, however, the decision was made to perform exploratory surgery in what doctors believe was a life saving decision.

Upon their first incision, they were shocked at what they saw; Kyla’s small intestines were a tangled mess with multiple obstructions. There were coiled up masses of her intestines that had to be “unwound”, and she was in dire straits. The fact that her blood supply was never cut off or her intestines did not rupture, causing her to be septic, was a miracle from God. Fortunately, however, they only had to remove a foot of her intestine, but because she does not have a large intestine or a colon, the doctors had no other choice but to place an illeostomy bag outside of Kyla’s stomach. Although the blessings of the outcome of this surgery were apparent, we knew that she would have a long road ahead of her; a road we are hoping to help her travel with this GoFundMe page.

If you know my sister, you know she has been a teacher for 26 years, and she absolutely loves it. This journey of teaching began for Kyla at Gardena High School in Los Angeles, CA, and she is now an 8th grade teacher in Spokane, WA. Teaching is her passion, and I know her students love her just as much as she loves them. There is nothing she would rather do in this world than teach our youth of America, and if you have ever had the pleasure of having a child in her class or knowing someone that did, you would know that she loves her job and will continue to be a teacher for as long as she possibly can.

As you can imagine, the length of her stay in the hospital (2 weeks), along with the continued care she will need at home, has left a financial impact on my sister. This surgery, the illeostomy bag, her port (she is on her 6th port from her previous surgeries), the nursing care, supplies, continued visits with doctors, etc., will be lifelong; therefore, I am creating this GoFundMe to help alleviate some of these worries and stresses. The only thing I want my sister focusing on right now is healing and getting better. I know she wants to return to her classroom and normalcy as soon as possible, and I am hoping this resource will help her do just that.