Yesterday, October 2, 2021 was Keira’s 1st “re-birthday”, one year from the date that she received her renewed stem cells that would allow her to live a normal life.
It is beyond surreal to say that our almost-2-year-old is a 1-year survivor of MLD, of all things! And it is even more surreal that she is doing SO many things that Livvy never could because this very disease had already begun stripping away her abilities at this age (21 months old).
Just some of the things she can do now that she wouldn’t have been able to without treatment:
Walking
Talking in sentences
Running
Climbing
Walking up steps
Counting to ten
Learning her alphabet
Spinning around
These simple things, that we as “normal” parents can take for granted, are things that amaze us on a daily basis.
We are beyond grateful for so many people who helped us get her this life-saving treatment – not just the doctors and scientists who made it possible but the nurses, the hospital staff, the volunteer families in Italy who helped us during our stay, our own family, friends and even strangers who became so invested in our girls and their journey.
The connections we have made are priceless and Italy will forever have a special place in our hearts. We are looking forward to returning next year for her next check up. ❤🤍💚
Here is a flashback to one year ago today at Ospedale San Raffaele:
I absolutely cannot believe it has been (almost) one year since Keira received her life-saving gene therapy treatment in Italy (her official re-birthday date is October 2, 2020). Our time in Milan seems like a lifetime ago.
Yet here we sit at Phoenix Children’s Hospital for her 1-year post gene therapy check up!
And I am so happy to say I am not worried about her results one bit! She has been running, climbing and talking more and more each day. She is even advanced for her age in some ways and we are in awe of her every day.
While we normally would need to return to Milan for her follow ups, because of COVID the doctors there managed to figure out a way to do the testing here locally and send back her most important blood work on dry ice overnight to Ospedale San Raffaelle. While I love Italy and have no problem with returning, it is especially nice to stay home for this check up so we do not have to leave Livvy who continues to worsen.
As for the check up itself, we have a busy two weeks ahead which will include the following appointments:
Bloodwork
Ultrasounds (abdomen and thyroid)
MRI
Echocardiogram
EEG
Appointments with Pulmonary, Pathology and Neurology
There might be one more I’m forgetting but needless to say, there are a lot of things they will be looking at to ensure she is developing normally.
The one thing in particular which can only be checked in Italy is one of the results from her bloodwork which looks for any ARSA antibodies. The ARSA enzyme is something her body could not create prior to gene therapy. And now that is does her body began trying to fight it because it wasn’t used to it. However, the antibodies have only gone down in numbers since and hopefully at this point will be completely gone. Keep your fingers crossed for us there!
We will be sure to keep everyone updated once we receive her results. Thank you for your continued prayers, love and support! It means the world! ❤
This weekend, we have the honor of attending one our best friend’s wedding in Montana. While Dave (the Best Man), and Eva (the flower girl) have been there since Thursday for the rehearsal, I am heading out today (Saturday) so that we only leave the other girls (Livvy specifically as she is the most medically fragile) for one night.
Ever since I left the house this morning I felt sick to my stomach. I even slept terrible. But I know she has been doing well this week and my parents are taking excellent care of her at home. Yet there is still that nagging feeling, or feelings, of dread, sadness, separation anxiety and nausea, but also hope and reassurance. It’s a weird mix.
I never used to be this way prior to the girls’ diagnoses. I’d enjoy our child-less nights while the girls were with grandparents and have complete peace of mind. Would think nothing of it. But now even when Eva or Keira stays overnight with grandparents I miss them…a lot more than I used to. It’s weird without them around and I feel like it’s only because we know how fleeting life can be. We know how important every moment is with them. We know our world can change in a matter of seconds.
It is so weird to now think of life with such finality in every choice or action but I suppose when you have a child with a terminal illness it is inevitable. Life is fleeting.
So it is especially hard leaving this time because it is the first time since the girls’ diagnoses that both Dave and I have been away. And with Livvy only continuing to decline we have no idea how much time we have left with her. It could be days, weeks or even years. The disease is so rare that doctors won’t give a timeline.
So as I sit in the airport terminal forcing myself to eat something I am also trying to push away the butterflies; reminding myself that she will be ok for one night. She knows where I am and who I’m bringing back home with me tomorrow. She smiled when I told her.
But I will think only of her and Keira’s sweet faces until the moment we get back home and see them safe and sound. 💜💜
Today, we helped make history. Albeit, a small part. But it will save the life of a girl diagnosed with MLD. And to me, that is everything.
Just days ago I was informed of a 4-year-old girl from Alabama who was diagnosed with the juvenile form of Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) – the same disease, but a different form, that Livvy and Keira have – and who was currently in Minnesota ready to be the first child with MLD to recieve gene therapy in the United States.
4-year-old Celia Grace Hamlett
Orchard Therapeutics had donated the therapy itself (as they did for Keira in Italy), the FDA even offered approval on this one-time basis. But Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama suddenly denied coverage. Her life-saving treatment immediately came to a stand-still.
The Hamlett family – Mom Kassie, Dad Gary and daughter Celia Grace – were devastated. There they were at the Ronald McDonald House in Minnesota with their dreams of a normal life for their daughter thwarted. Without this treatment she could potentially only live to the age of 13 (the average life span of children diagnosed with the juvenile form of MLD).
Maria Kefalas of CureMLD.com looped me into the conversation regarding helping this family and I couldn’t not do my part. I immediately wrote up a press release that we could use on a local and national basis to share the Hamlett’s story with the media and how they now needed to raise the $300k that Blue Cross wouldn’t cover (despite the coverage costs of her care without it being in the millions). We had one week to do so.
My next step? I had to contact Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. They are the reason we were able to stop fundraising sooner than expected for Keira. They heard our story last year, and their kindness and compassion outweighed the red tape.
As one of their executives once said on a Zoom call“we are building the plane as we are flying it”; this was NEVER done before in the history of the United States insurance coverage for MLD. But they managed to cover treatment costs for Keira and the rest of the money we raised went to travel, lodging, food, expenses, and a fund for all future travel for the trips to Milan that we would have to make every 6 months for the next decade of Keira’s life.
Now, I was asking them to help one more child. But unfortunately the policies for claims and coverage varies from state to state. So they reached out to the Alabama reps to share their experience in Keira’s case in hopes it could help 4-year-old Celia Grace.
Just two days later, today, I received a call from Gary and Kassie Hamlett…they had just gotten off the phone with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama who decided they will now cover everything for Celia Grace (after their case was already denied twice). It was truly a miracle. And as we have seen/heard many times before in recounts of historic moments, it is kindness and compassion that made history.
Celia Grace Hamlett will now be the first child to receive gene therapy for MLD in the US.
I am beyond honored to have been a part of this wonderful family’s journey; to have saved another child even though we couldn’t save our dear Livvy. I hope to one day give the Hamletts a huge hug and see Celia Grace and our Keira playing together as any “normal” kids would.
Yes, the world is constantly changing. But I truly believe it is kindness and compassion leading the way.
Last week, we enrolled Livvy in Hospice of the Valley. Not because she is drastically and rapidly declining, but more so to have that support system in place for when she does and in order to have physicians come to her rather than putting her in her stroller and driving anywhere (she has always hated carseats and found them very uncomfortable since her diagnosis), or having her anywhere near COVID patients at a local hospital.
Surprisingly, to me, this process was not as difficult or emotionally trying as I thought it would be. Honestly, the hardest part was talking to our palliative care team about end of life scenarios prior to enrolling in Hospice. That is how we came to the decision that it was indeed a good time to enroll Livvy.
And what might come as a surprise to many is that enrolling a child in Hospice is not the same as enrolling an adult. For an adult, Hospice means they have very little time left. For a child, like one with MLD, they could be on Hospice for years (or days…there really is no way of knowing because the disease is so rare). But the point of enrolling a child is not only to ensure end of life scenarios are completed as the patient’s family prefers (at home versus in a hospital with a million tubes connected to them), but also to ensure their comfort until that point arrives.
Livvy’s meds will now be delivered instead of us running back and forth to Walgreens, a Pediatric nurse and social worker will come to the house to check on her every two weeks (or as needed) and a pediatrician will visit every two months (or as needed), and we now have a number to call them 24 hours a day 7 days a week for any medical questions or concerns rather than guessing what’s wrong and having to rush to the ER. Any time, day or night, they will come to her.
For the parents, siblings and patient, this is a game changer. It keeps disruptions and any further trauma to a minimum. We are incredibly grateful to have their support as we contunue to navigate this heartbreaking and unbelievable situation.
For more information on Hospice of the Valley, visit www.hov.org.
One of many lovely photos of Livvy captured by our friend and photographer Kay Eskridge of Images By Kay. ❤
One part of our story that some people don’t know is that Dave and I both got genetic testing done prior to having kids. Not because we knew of any issues in either of our family; simply because my doctor was offering it and we figured why not? Better safe than sorry. 100+ rare diseases were on that test, including MLD. So you can imagine our surprise upon the girls’ diagnosis because MLD had come back as NEGATIVE for both of us!
How could this happen, you ask? You bet we inquired after looking back at those tests.
Apparently, the company who ran the tests, called Counsyl, only tested for the 5 most prevalent gene mutations that resulted in MLD. Of course, the mutations we both have are more rare.
The chances of us meeting and having kids with MLD? Literally 1 in a million.
While there was nothing we could have done differently to change this outcome, Dr. Narayanan was inspired by our family’s story and wanted to do something to help others avoid this occurrence.
Within the year, he had written a proposal based on our family which is aimed at determining the use of Whole Genome Sequencing as a tool for pre-conception genetic testing in couples. With the idea being that preventing recessive diseases (like SMA, or MLD) would be better for families and society, rather than diagnosing after birth (either by newborn screening or after symptoms appear) and even gene therapy (which can have a price tag in the millions).
Not long thereafter, his projected was given the green light by the Flinn Foundation.
It’s goals:
Develop an “analytical tool kit” with which to analyze WGS data from couples – to identify risk alleles (variants) that could potentially cause autosomal recessive or X-linked recessive disease.
Figure out what are ethical and moral issues that have to be tackled
Develop a program for counseling couples based on such WGS data.
I was tearing up when Dr. Narayanan told me during a recent visit that “I am confident that within the next couple of years, WGS (whole genome sequencing) and appropriate analytical tools will be available to couples who are planning their own families.”
To know that soon any couple within the US will be able to get a comprehensive genetic test that fully explores all potential gene mutations that cause diseases like MLD is absolutely amazing.
No child should have to suffer from a disease like this and no parent should ever have to lose a child from it. While I know there is some research happening for a cure for those who are symptomatic, it is such a relief to know that we will soon be able to prevent a disease like this entirely.
We are forever grateful to Dr. Narayanan and his dedication to families like ours. Truly one of our guardian angels on earth! ❤
When you become a parent it’s almost automatic to write down the dates of your children’s milestones. Rolling, sitting, walking, talking, running, etc. But when they have a terminal illness like MLD, you begin to avoid those dates because it generally means loss of milestones.
Looking back at my notes, I did not put a date, or even a month, next to when Olivia stopped talking. Stopped walking. Stopped sitting up on her own. Or lost control of her legs entirely.
But I did recently write down a month for when she stopped being able to eat and drink on her own. It was this month, July 2021.
We had been working for weeks to keep her eating orally as much as possible and drinking from the one sippy cup that she could actually sip from. But there was no denying this was something she could no longer do.
Sometimes she could barely open her mouth to put food in it. Things that she could normally get down no longer worked and would cause her to choke. Even water in her sippy cup didn’t work. We thought of thickening it as some MLD families do but she simply could not use the cup to make a sipping/sucking motion at all.
She is now 100% fed through her GTube. She gets Kate Farms formula for nutrition, water and her meds all through the tube. However, we do give her small amounts of water and juice in her mouth through a syringe so she has something to enjoy and keep her mouth from getting dry.
This recent loss of development was one of the many reasons we also decided she would not be starting school this week.
On top of the eating/drinking issues she has become more lethargic and is experiencing more pain. This has required higher doses of Gabapentin and THC 3x per day. Sometimes we even have to use Valium when those don’t do the trick.
She also usually only wants me for comfort. Dad, Grandma’s and her nanny Sheena will work here and there but more often than not, it’s Mom she wants.
So as we continue to keep her comfortable amidst her decline we chose to not send her into a new environment potentially filled with germs and people she doesn’t know but to keep her home where she is most comfortable and we can spend the most time with her for as long as we have her.
After about 6 weeks from returning from Keira’s check up in Italy, we finally got the results of the very last test we were waiting on – the main test we went there for because it cannot be done in US labs – to see if her body was still creating antibodies to the ARSA enzyme it now creates.
While we were hoping for a result of zero antibodies, she did still have some remaining BUT it was less than before and because of her development going so well the doctors in Italy are not concerned. We are SO relieved.
They’ll want to do this test again at her next check up in October (which will be one year post-gene therapy) but depending on covid travel restrictions liting up we may be able to do this from home if we can get her blood samples sent to Italy from Arizona within 24 hours.
In the meantime, we will have our fingers crossed that Keira continues to do well and that the antibodies disappear entirely.
Her first trip to an American grocery store. She loved naming all of her favorites (bananas, apples, peaches, oranges, berries)
Rod Paige (the 7th United States Secretary of Education) once said “There is no more powerful advocate than a parent armed with information and options.”
Now, as a special needs parent, I fully understand the truth in this quote.
Yes, every parent must know that part of their job is advocating for their child. It’s common sense, right? We all want what is best for them.
But, prior to January 2020, when I was just your average Mom with normally developing kids, there really wasn’t a need for me to advocate for them. We of course would research the best schools, pediatricians and other options out there but that was every day stuff that parents do.
In the past month alone I have done more advocating for Livvy than ever before.
Getting anything you need or want for your special needs child is a MAJOR task. And don’t expect for companies or vendors you work with to follow up with you. None of them will. It has been our job to do all of the follow up to ensure she is getting everything she needs when she needs it.
For example…
I have had to text our pediatrician requests on 8 separate occasions.
I have had to call a new pump company we are transferring to for Livvy’s GTube supplies 10+ times.
We have had 3 meetings to trial eye gaze devices, with a follow up meeting to come, before we decide on one and then wait weeks to months to receive it.
I have had to speak with our neurologist about medications twice.
I have had to schedule PT, OT and feeding therapy appointments.
I have had to personally email prescriptions and referrals from doctors to vendors because their fax number isn’t working or they gave me the wrong one. Side note: can we please stop using fax machines?!?!
The list goes on. Keeping Livvy as stable as possible is a full-time job. Especially as her disease progresses and her needs (medically and for physical comfort and mobility) change.
To any parents who are new to the special needs run around, know that you are not alone. The frustrating back and forth and hoops to jump through is (unfortunately) normal. It is up to YOU to make sure your child is getting what they need.
Support systems through DDD and the like offer some wonderful assistance but it still requires work on the part of the parent to get the ball rolling when it comes to getting any kind of device or specialized care.
Be your child’s voice. Be their strong arm. Go with your gut. You do know best.
It has been a while since I posted. Mainly because it has been a busy month for all of us and one of many ups and downs for Livvy.
While Dave and the girls were in Italy, Livvy started having these random bouts of pain that were inexplicable. Nothing looked like it was physically or outwardly hurting her so we assumed it must be internal. After seeing her neurologist and explaining the issue he suggested trying a low dose of Gabapentin. We had tried Gabapentin when she was first diagnosed last year and she had a weird reaction like she didn’t like the way it made her feel. But this time, it worked! Those random bouts of pain went away and we were so grateful!
We also met with a palliative care doctor at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. He agreed with the medication routine she was currently on and we also inquired about THC drops, as we heard they worked well for other MLD kiddos. He said other families he has spoken have said they have changed their childrens’ lives and that it is worth a try so I placed an order at a local shop (Marijuana is now legal recreationally in AZ) and picked up some drops. Those also seemed to do a great job at lowering her anxiety/frustration and feeling better overall.
Next, (while everyone was still in Italy) we ran out of her Amitriptyline (drops that were prescribed to us in Italy because they couldn’t get her usual Nortriptyline). Thinking nothing of it, because doctors assured us these meds are really one in the same we moved her right on to the Nortriptyline. And it did not go well! She started having a similar reaction to it as she first did on Gabapentin. She clearly did not like the way it made her feel. So after consulting the doctor I cut her dose in half. Still didn’t like it. So I cut it in half again. And at that point the dose was so small I wondered if she even needed it. So we weaned her off and she has been doing great without it! MLD kids always have so many meds they take so when we can do away with one it’s amazing!
Next up on the list was getting an eye gaze device. These things are such a game changer! For kids and adults alike who can’t speak, it allows them to look at words and/or pictures on a screen and by a glance of their eye alone they can speak, make choices and express feelings. Getting one in a timely fashion, however, is no easy task but that’s a whole other blog post.
We began this process working with Livvy’s team through the Arizona Early Intervention Program (who children are enrolled with prior to three years of age and then they go into the Long Term Care program through DDD). After she turned 3 in May we had to send in the necessary paperwork to get it referred by our pediatrician and she just had her first two trials of eye gaze devices!
The first one we trialed was EyeTech, which seemed much more extensive in its options but maybe a little more cumbersome to learn and navigate. The rep mentioned one gentleman actually used CAD via this device!
The second we trialed was called PRC which Livvy seemed to be able to use a bit better but the options didn’t seem as extensive.
Tomorrow, we have one more trial with Tobii Dynavox, which is the option many other MLD kids use so we are looking forward to that and then meet with our therapy team next week to make a decision.
I hope this will be a device that Livvy is able to learn and use so that we can again hear what she is thinking or wants (or doesn’t want). Such a miracle! We are so excited!
