Kaylyn Whitman's Story

Kaylyn Whitman was 11 years old when she looked up at her mother, Katie, and asked, “Mama, why me?”

Her mother replied, “Kaylyn, I think there are a lot of people who need to believe in the power of prayer and you have given them reason to believe.”

One hot July afternoon in 2009, Kaylyn was visiting her father in Seattle. While at the pool, she collapsed, showing symptoms of a heat stroke. Kaylyn, always an energetic and healthy girl, was airlifted to Children’s Hospital of Seattle and resuscitated twice because of cardiac arrest.

Kaylyn was placed on a ventilator and a heart-lung bypass machine that oxygenates the blood outside of a patient’s body and returns it to the circulatory system.

Over the course of a few weeks, Kaylyn’s condition continued to stabilize and she was released from Seattle and allowed to return home to her mother in Minnesota where she was admitted to the Mayo Clinic. Doctors at Mayo performed open-heart surgery to correct a left ventricular anomaly and repair a small hole created by the heart-lung bypass machine. Her surgery was a success and just three months later, her heart was functioning normally with no medicines and no restrictions.

As Kaylyn’s family walked through this storm, Kaylyn’s mom was at times overwhelmed by the physical and financial demands of relocating to Seattle to be with her. Everyday expenses, such as utilities back home in Minnesota, as well as lodging and a car rental while in Seattle, presented a challenge. The cross-country hospitalization meant additional burdens, including airfare expense and lost wages. EKF was able to help Kaylyn’s family make ends meet during this difficult time so they could remain by Kaylyn’s side and participate in her care and healing.

Kaylyn is an inspiration to those who know her. Her mother, Katie, believes prayer turned Kaylyn’s experience into a ministry of encouragement as others who hear her story feel better-equipped with courage to face their own physical trials.