Cystic Fibrosis
AWARENESS Kiev Adair lives in Texas with her two children, Devon (age 22) and Leiki (age 11). Devon is a personal trainer at a local gym and pursuing the goal of opening his own gym and online stock trading company. Kiev became aware of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) when Leiki was around 6 weeks old and wasn’t nursing well, plus having labored breathing. Kiev took her to the pediatrician, who diagnosed Leiki with pneumonia. They were sent home with an inhaler and antibiotics. Her symptoms improved slightly, but she was still having problems with her breathing that was causing more issues with nursing. After 2 rounds of pneumonia, Kiev spoke to her mother, Shannon Shumate, of Jackson, MS and explained Leiki’s symptoms and diagnosis. Shannon suggested that Kiev kiss Leiki on the forehead to determine if she tasted salty. Leiki indeed tasted salty! After online researching which caused much distress in Kiev, she made multiple pleas to Leiki’s pediatrician and pulmonologist to hav e a sweat chloride test, where a technique called iontophoresis is employed in order to produce a volume of sweat. The technique requires the application of a tiny (painless) electrical current that medically stimulates maximum sweat production. The patient’s forearm is commonly used. Prior to November 2009, the CF screening for newborns wasn’t a part of the heel-prick newborn screening
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done on babies. Leiki was born in April 2009. After a false-positive test and more probing of doctors to determine what was making Leiki sick, on August 18, 2009 @ 5 months old, Leiki was diagnosed with CF. Shortly after the diagnosis on August 26, 2009, Leiki was hospitalized for CF complications. That’s when they found out what their future lives would
WOMAN TO WOMAN WITH JOANNE : THE MAGAZINE • Issue 30, May 2020
encompass. Initially, the doctors advised them to keep Leiki away from sick people, discouraged day care, provided a litany of breathing treatments and a daily schedule, and gave them numerous written resources for education on CF. The main goal was to continue her daily breathing treatments, keep her caloric intake high, and assure she was isolated from people that were or had been recently sick.
