Kailyn Hewitt is much like any other 6-year-old girl who likes swimming, coloring and playing dress up, except she has already endured 3 brain surgeries and many other setbacks from her rare form of cancer.
On August 23rd last year, the little girl was diagnosed with anaplastic ependymoma, a rapidly growing type of brain cancer, found near her cerebellum and brain stem. Approximately 200 similar cases are diagnosed in the US each year in children and young adults. This type of cancer never goes into remission.
Since her diagnosis, she has experienced three brain surgeries in less than two months, a blood clot, a spinal fluid leak, an infection, two months of proton radiation therapy, post-traumatic stress disorder and physical therapy. Now, eye surgery may be on the horizon. All before her first day of kindergarten. “She has the highest grade of what she has, which means that basically it will come back. The question is when?” Kailyn’s 36-year-old mother said.
Since her diagnosis, medical bills have piled up. “The bills are just insane,” her mother said. “By the time of her second surgery, we were getting foreclosure notices.” Money and support from family, friends and complete strangers have been helping them keep afloat.
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