Our beloved Krissy (Ka’ipolani Kaina) is in urgent need of specialized care and surgery(ies) on the mainland. She will be out of work for up to 6-8 weeks depending on how many surgeries are required and her prescribed recovery time. Krissy has been such an integral part of so many of our lives - let’s help lift her up so she can go get the help she needs to help her body recover & heal. Krissy is a strong wahine who has had to fight a lot for her health in the past decade. Her heart longs to have her health restored so that she may continue her passion of guiding children in the Montessori way, as well as to thrive and enjoy her family including her first mo’opuna, Haven Luana. If you are able, please consider donating to this Go Fund Me we have set up to help Krissy and her ‘ohana cover travel, medical, and household expenses, all donations are helpful and greatly appreciated.

Mahalo piha from all of us, including Krissy and her husband, Andy Kaina, for any help at all!

For more detailed information regarding Krissy’s health challenges, please read below.

In the spring of 2022, Krissy was diagnosed with a small ventral hernia and was scheduled for a simple laparoscopic repair on June 6th. Krissy awoke to find out that the procedure ended up being a major open surgery with complications. Ten days following discharge, Krissy’s incision burst open, and she was taken to the hospital. After being admitted, a CT was taken, and it was determined she had a major abdominal and intestinal infection. Two days went by, and she had another open surgery to remove the fully infected mesh that was adhered to all of her abdominal organs. She remained in the hospital under the care of the infectious disease doctor for several weeks, who oversaw many different trials of antibiotics to fight internal MRSA. She also contracted COVID in the hospital while trying to fight these serious infections. Her wound was quite long as well as deep, and she was sent home with a wound vac and had to return to the hospital to have a painful dressing change every 2 days for over a month.

Two days after discharge, Krissy’s wound dressing showed that the infection was still quite actively present. She was seen by the infectious disease doctor, and in an effort to keep her out of the hospital, she was prescribed oral antibiotics indefinitely. Her PCP tracked her inflammation and infection levels through weekly blood draws from August - December 2022. The antibiotics seemed to work for a while and then would need to be changed to a different one as her body became resistant. Krissy continued to teach at her Montessori Children’s House up until the last day before Winter Break began. She knew something was wrong, as the pain had become more and more unbearable over the past few weeks. She had her bag packed, and her daughter and co-teacher, Holly, took her to the ER where she was admitted.

The infectious disease specialist urged the surgeon to look inside, as several months of antibiotics were not able to fully fight the infection. A third major open surgery showed that there were still pockets of infection as well as debris from the second surgery remaining. It was also determined that the removal of the mesh in the second surgery took along with it most of Krissy’s connective tissue (the abdominal wall) and left behind numerous new holes and hernias containing both small and large intestines.

For the last year, Krissy has had several ER visits, ambulance calls, and hospital stays due to incarcerated hernias, blockages, flipped intestines and infections, all a direct result of those two initial surgeries.. This includes a recent week-long hospital stay beginning January 1st of this year. These conditions are quite serious, and her specialists here on Maui have informed her that it’s not a matter of if but when she will have a life-threatening emergency and will not have good chances of survival with the level of knowledge and care that is available here. Krissy has two high-level specialists in Colorado awaiting her arrival to create a plan for a complete abdominal reconstruction that would bring her life to a more functional and normative state.