Kiona with Oakland Athletics Players Mark Mulder and Eric Chavez
Kiona T. Jenkins heroically fought brain cancer for nearly 4 years. Kiona was diagnosed with both a Teratoma and Germinoma brain tumor October 17, 2002 at age 8. She endured a 12 hour brain surgery; which was only successful in extracting 50% of the golf ball sized mass. Before beginning four months of intense chemotherapy and 30 cycles of cranium/spinal radiation treatments an MRI scan revealed that the tumor had grown to 10% larger than its original size prior to surgery.
Kiona was diagnosed with a second relapse in January 2005. She had a subsequent surgery that was successful in removing the entire brain tumor which was 10% larger than prior to her first brain surgery. She remained in a semi-concious state for over 238 days in PICU but still remained the perfect example of cancer survivorship and an advocate for cancer survivorship issues. Kiona lost her battle January 24, 2006. Her memorial services were held on February 5, 2006 - her 12th birthday.
The Kiona Foundation was founded in 2003 as a response to the ever growing cancer survivor population. While our vision and list of services have expanded, we still maintain a specialized cancer division to continue our original mission to enhance the lives of cancer survivors through financial and in-kind assistance and to raise awareness relating to cancer survivorship issues through advocacy, support services and most importantly through education.
You may read more about Kiona in the documents below.
My Daughter - A candid letter written by Lakisha Jenkins after Kiona's first brain surgery and treatment.
Kiona's Bio - Written prior to Kiona's relapse diagnosis.