Support Kazari's Battle Against Cancer

My name is Shiarra Mallory. I'm a single mother of 2 boys, 19 and 12. With a heavy heart, I'm fundraising for my youngest son's medical expenses.

On April 10th, my son was taken into John Hopkins Hospital of Columbia, MD, for stomach pains at around 9 pm. Tests were run on him, and more tests were conducted. Around midnight, a doctor finally came to speak with me and broke the most devastating news to me: a mass was found around my son's kidneys, and we would be admitted to John Hopkins and transferred to either Children's in DC or John Hopkins in Baltimore, my choice.

My heart was pounding, and Kazari and I were alone. I prayed and made my decision to go to John Hopkins in Baltimore. When we arrived at John Hopkins, I was told that what they saw could possibly be something small, but they would like to continue to get more images.

On April 11th, my son was taken upstairs and admitted to the Bloomberg Children's Center of John Hopkins Oncology, where he would wait for a biopsy to be done. More tests were run, and I was told on April 12th, after all the testing, that my baby boy Kazari for sure had a cancerous mass around his kidney. What type of cancer they didn’t know. Imaging showed that the tumor was in his kidneys. The oncology team told me that I would meet the surgical team, and they would have much more information and be able to answer more of my questions. On April 14th, my son was scheduled for a biopsy the next day, April 15th. The goal was to go in, remove the kidney and the tumor; this would be a 5-hour surgery.

On April 15th, the surgery took up to 10 hours. Finding out that this mass had taken over my baby’s body, the surgical team assured me that this mass had moved to his liver, lymph nodes, chest, and also his bone marrow. My son spent 24 hours in ICU, and by April 17th, he was back on the oncology recovery floor, healing and awaiting the results from the pathology on that tissue mass so that we could come up with a treatment plan.

In the meantime, the doctors were wondering how this was possible. Kidney tumors are very rare in children, and the only thing they could think of was if he had sickle cell. Well, he was tested, and it came back that Kazari has the sickle cell trait.

On April 25th, the pathology report came back, and my son was diagnosed with Renal Medullary Carcinoma, a rare and aggressive type of kidney cancer. It's typically found in young adults, especially those with the sickle cell trait. I was told the survival rate for this is 15 months. My heart was broken into a million pieces, as I thought, this is my baby; he doesn’t deserve this. Someone so gentle, Kazari is loving and just wants to play football.

Along with our friends and family, we have been researching day and night for other treatment options. We came across MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. They specialize in research, studies, and cures for Renal Medullary Carcinoma. I reached out to them, and they are willing to help treat my son, but this treatment would be self-pay because we are not residents of Texas, and Maryland health insurance does not participate in out-of-network.

We are now raising funds to give Kazari the best chance with this alternative treatment. We believe and claim there is hope for Kazari, and anything you can do to support our family, big or small, is appreciated beyond words, whether by donating or simply sharing this page.

With love,

Shiarra, Tre, Kamonte, Garrett family, Mallory family, and Wilson family