Help Kira fight Brain Cancer
Kira is a 17 year old from San Diego who, in almost all ways, is a normal, healthy, active, and spirited teenager…with one big exception:
Kira is in the fight of her life with Franky, the name she’s given her inoperable brain tumor.
Despite learning of her condition only a few weeks away from her drivers test (and super excited because she worked all summer to save enough money to buy her own car), Kira remains very optimistic and happy.
In a very short 5-week period in late 2017, she went from normal and healthy teenager to a kid fighting a serious brain tumor.
It started as double vision (unfortunately she can’t see well enough to drive now) – which we thought was her eyesight since she had astigmatism – and figured she needed to update her prescription.
It then escalated from there to occasional headaches, then some mild dizziness. Eventually she had such bad headaches that we started taking her to the doctor.
First to urgent care, then to the ER, then to her physician and finally to the ER again. In her final visit to the ER they suspected meningitis. The tests were negative and fortunately the Doctor ordered an MRI.
The MRI revealed a tumor attached to her brain stem (a rare and aggressive form of cancer known as DIPG). This prompted an immediate transfer to Rady Children’s Hospital where further evaluation and additional scans revealed it to be cancerous.
Treatment & Fundraising
Any funds raised will be used to cover medical bills and ultimately the clinical trials and experimental treatments that will be needed to fight this.
At this point her current treatment is a combination of chemo therapy and immunotherapy which are supported by cancer fighting dietary changes.
Treatments range from $20k to $32k per treatment, plus travel costs. As you likely expect, these costs are not covered by Kira’s insurance due their experimental nature, putting her family in the incredibly challenging position of paying for her treatments by any means necessary, which makes fundraising so critical.
We are incredibly grateful that last year’s fundraiser paid for a year of treatments for Kira, but those funds are now depleted, and Kira’s fight against Franky continues.
Kira, her family and her friends all thank you for any contribution you can make to support her fight.
Stay in Touch!
You can keep up with her latest progress on her Facebook page and follow her personally on Instagram.