Kayla's Story: The Miles a Mother Will Go
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Show Notes
When Kayla discovered anti-Kell antibodies at just 12 weeks, a sky-high titer and a terrifying 1.64 MCA score at 15 weeks sent her and her husband on a same-day flight from Pennsylvania to Austin, Texas for an emergency intraperitoneal transfusion—the first of nine lifesaving IUTs that would turn them into frequent flyers and the Dell Children’s fetal team into family. Kayla’s story is a powerful reminder that when the stakes are your child’s life, you do whatever it takes—and that knowledge, advocacy, and the right medical team really do save babies.
Show themes:
- Anti-K alloimmunized pregnancy
- High-titer alloimmunized pregnancy
- Long-distance travel for specialty care
- Intrauterine transfusion
- Phenobarbital (for the mother prior to delivery)
- Darbepoetin (in the newborn with HDFN)
- Severe HDFN survival
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References in this episode:
Neonatal best practices document that Kayla used in the NICU: Read here.
Phenobarbital before delivery to help mature fetal liver: Trevett Jr TN, Dorman K, Lamvu G, Moise Jr KJ. Antenatal maternal administration of phenobarbital for the prevention of exchange transfusion in neonates with hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology. 2005 Feb 1;192(2):478-82. Read here.
Use of erythropoietin or darbepoetin to reduce the number of top-up transfusions in babies with HDFN and a history of IUT: Ree IM, de Haas M, van Geloven N, Juul SE, de Winter D, Verweij EJ, Oepkes D, van der Bom JG, Lopriore E. Darbepoetin alfa to reduce transfusion episodes in infants with haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn who are treated with intrauterine transfusions in the Netherlands: an open-label, single-centre, phase 2, randomised, controlled trial. The Lancet Haematology. 2023 Dec 1;10(12):e976-84.