McKenna Jeardeau Niermeyer

Dear Family and Friends,

On Monday, February 19th McKenna was taken to a hospital in Waterloo, IA with what we thought were bad Influenza B symptoms. Her health deteriorated quickly there and she was intubated and flown to University of Iowa Children's Hospital in Iowa City that night. Upon arrival she experienced cardiac arrest twice. She ended up being put on ECMO to allow her time to heal while supporting heart and lung functions. It was initially thought that Strep Pneumonia had gotten into her blood stream and caused an infection that made her very ill and led to the cardiac arrest. It was discovered through blood tests on Friday, Feb 23rd that another factor to it is she has Leukemia. There are still many details to be gathered on this illness for her but it is thought it began between 2 weeks and 2 months ago. She has started treatment for the Leukemia and it is already showing positive affect but it will be a long road to recovery. At this time she remains sedated but we are excited to see her smiling face when she has healed enough to be woken. Her initial hospital stay is anticipated to be between 1 to 2 months with a total treatment plan that will take about 2.5 years. The first 9 months of treatment will be outpatient visits where she will receive chemo and steroids and the remaining time, if all goes well, will be by oral medication. Survival rates for this illness are in our favor but it is still going to be a challenging few years.

Please keep McKenna and her family in your thoughts. If you wish to further support McKenna's recovery, you can make a donation. The funds will be used to cover medical care and other expenses throughout her treatments.