KENDYL DELLIS

In October of 2014, Kendyl was diagnosed with Pediatric Thyroid Cancer.  In November 2014, she underwent extensive surgery at MUSC in Charleston, SC in her neck to remove over 150 lymph nodes (54 of which were cancerous) and a full removal of her thyroid that was fully involved with disease. Kendyl's Journey to a cure began by Kisa and I seeking second opinions from University of Richmond at VCU, John's Hopkins in Baltimore, Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, and finally MD Anderson in Houston Texas, where Kendyl's very rare case of Thyroid Cancer has been managed by what we consider to be the best medical team on the planet.  In January of 2015, Kendyl first met with Dr. Steven Waguespack at MD Anderson, it was then that we learned that Kendyl's disease had spread to her lungs as well.  In April of 2015, Kendyl received Radioactive Iodine Treatment (in more than 95% of Thyroid Cases, RAI treats the remaining cancerous tissue).  Over multiple visits back to Houston over the course of 2 1/2 Years and constant monitoring of her disease, her cancer was continuing to grow unabated and becoming a bigger concern with every visit..........exactly the  opposite of what should have been happening in normal cases of Thyroid Cancer (Especially Pediatric Thyroid Cancer).  On our last visit in April of 2017, Kendyl's team of doctors and surgeons suggested that we allow them to go back in ASAP to remove the multiple tumors that had resurfaced in the neck area, and then move to try and figure out a way to tackle the lung disease subsequent to surgery.  On June 5th, Kisa, myself, and Kendyl returned to Houston to face a full day of appointments on Tuesday to identify with full certainty the exact location of the tumors in her neck for surgical purposes through CT scans and Ultrasounds.  Yesterday, June 7th, 2017 Kendyl was admitted for surgery where she underwent a grueling 7 hour long surgery.  After her surgery, in our meeting with her surgeon, he explained that though he was able to remove the majority of her disease,  unfortunately there were areas that he could not complete full removal of the disease due to concerns that irreversible damage could be done to arteries, ability to talk due to vocal chord damage, and the nerves that control facial function like lips, eyelids, and upper arm and chest musculature.  Because we know there is progression in her lung disease (even just  since our last visit in April), the surgeon explained that any treatment that may be considered to target the lung disease could be considered as dual treatment for residual neck disease unable to be removed.  The big concern for us at this point is that we are now aware that a cure for Kendyl's disease is now off the table, with hope that her disease can somehow be managed.  We hope to learn more in the near future as to how the Medical team will begin to offer any potential options to manage the lung disease, but for now, we are not aware of the exact path of treatment.  We have been told that Kendyl will likely travel to Houston every 2 months now so that her remaining lung disease can be closely monitored.