KHINLEY JO'S STORY

 

Khinley Jo Selix is the 5-year-old daughter of Taylor and Emily Selix. She was diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on June 28th, 2023.  Upon being admitted to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, a chest X-ray showed a mass covering over 3/4 of her chest, crushing her right lung, and sitting on the veins and arteries that surround her heart making it impossible to do any kind of surgery with sedation.

 

In the days following Khinley Jo’s diagnosis, she had teams of doctors and nurses that worked tirelessly day and night to help her fight the battle that was now before her. She also had a support squad of family, friends, and the greatest community she could have ever asked for. As the prayers, thoughts, and well wishes came in, we saw the miracles being answered right before our eyes.  

 

Khinley Jo was able to start chemotherapy, and other meds to help stop the growth of her mass, and today we are happy to report it is still there, but no longer an issue. It has shrunk in size tremendously and has calcified to her rib as they were hoping it would do. Her treatments and medications have been a long road, as most of the chemotherapy drugs make her lab counts drop and make her neutropenic and that usually means we have to be in the hospital until those come back up for sometimes weeks at a time.

 

On March 21st, 2024, we learned that she had a fungal infection. Not knowing what to expect, we all learned very quickly that it was not something the doctors were taking lightly, and she was going to need 50% of her left lung removed, as it showed signs of the fungal infection. After meeting with her surgeon and getting a more in depth idea for how bad the infection was, the surgeon wasn’t very optimistic about Khinley Jo’s outcome. If she were to make it, he wasn’t sure he could even get it all, and not having any white blood cells, or neutrophils, he wasn’t sure she would be able to fight the fungal infection.

 

After coming out of surgery and speaking with the surgeon, he felt a little better about things, and Khinley Jo has done a very good job of fighting everything that has been thrown her way! She has a year and a half left of treatment, and still has a long road ahead. But, we know she has her support squad right behind her and will continue to fight her fight!