Kinley Walker

Kinley was born in April, 2012. At her 2 month well baby visit the doctor was concerned that she was jaundiced and her liver felt enlarged. She was sent to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital for tests. On July 5th she was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia, a rare liver disease in which the bile ducts in infants are absent or damaged and bile backs up in the liver causing scarring, cirhosis, and ultimately liver failure. She had a Kasai surgery that same day to attempt to drain bile by attaching a piece of her small intestine directly to her liver. Kinley initially did well with the surgery. In August and September her lab tests showed that the Kasai may not be continuing to work as well as we had hoped. On September, 26th her doctor at St. Louis Children's Hospital determined that the Kasai had failed and Kinley would need a liver transplant.

     Kinley was officially listed for a liver transplant on November 9, 2012 when she was 6 months old. After waiting for a transplant for 6 months, Kinley's health had become stable and she was changed to and inactive status on the transplant list. She will need a transplant eventually.