Support for Kylan's Bone Marrow Transplant Journey

As many of you are probably aware, Kylan has sickle cell disease/anemia. He was diagnosed with this shortly after his birth and has been in and out of the hospital over the years due to sickle cell related crisis. Sickle cell affects the hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells. His cells are misshaped, typically sickle shaped, which prevents them from moving easily and often blocking blood flow. The blockages can cause pain crisis, swelling of the hands and feet, stroke, lung problems, eye problems, infections, and kidney disease. Sadly, for many, the life expectancy is 40-60 years.

Thanks to advancements in medicine, Kylan will be undergoing a bone marrow transplant on August 7th – a little over a week away. Winter, his younger sister, is a 100% donor match and will be donating her marrow in an attempt to cure him of this disease. Kylan will be admitted this Wednesday to begin his second round of chemo and Winnie will be admitted on the 7th so that the doctors can pull the needed marrow and transplant them. The goal is to get Winter’s marrow to successfully engraft and for Ky to begin producing his own healthy blood cells.

Jackie, their mom and my amazing daughter, will be commuting between the hospital and home to take care of the four children for the almost two months that Ky will be hospitalized. There are a ton of logistics to coordinate – things like daily laundry to ensure he is in a sterile environment during his inpatient stay; cooking meals at home and bringing him food that he enjoys in an effort to promote eating and avoiding as much weight loss as possible (chemo can cause mouth and throat sores and cause pain when eating as well as decreased appetite); traveling between different family member’s homes to see the three non-hospitalized kids; and still finding some time to make sure that she stays as mentally and physically healthy as she can considering the circumstances.

My goal is to provide her with some financial support to help ease the burden of things that may come up while he’s inpatient. If you would like to contribute, your generosity, care, and support are greatly appreciated.

In closing, I’ll leave you all with something Ky said that really stuck with me. On Friday, we visited the Psychologist to talk through any last-minute concerns, questions, etc. She asked him what he hopes this transplant will do for him. His response, “I hope it helps me to live a long life.”