Aurelia’s story started in 2013 when she was two weeks old and later diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Over the next five months she went through chemotherapy, platelet and red blood cell transfusions at Kapiolani Women and Children’s Hospital. Aurelia lost her vision due to the effects of the chemotherapy and the position of the leukemia in her whole body.

In January 2014, Aurelia started to live her life outside of the hospital. She quickly learned how to explore, and she had this innate drive to discover her surroundings. At 18 months, Aurelia started to learn how to navigate a sighted world with her little white cane and she was unstoppable. She wanted to go everywhere.

At four years old, Aurelia was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, where her left side of her heart was failing. She started heart failure medication right away. Aurelia seemed to respond to the medication and continued to blossom.

At 7 years old, Aurelia started to struggle with weight gain and needed extra support to help her gain and maintain her weight. Aurelia started having seizures because her nutrition and calorie count was low.  Aurelia needed surgery to place a G-Tube into her stomach to help with supplying feeds straight to her tummy so that she can receive the extra nutrition and calories her body needed in order for her to continue to live her life to the fullest. 

At 9 years old, Aurelia suffered her second heart failure, this time affecting her right side of her heart. This heart failure was more serious, and we were told by Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital that Aurelia will eventually need a heart transplant in the future.

In 2025, Aurelia became Kapiolani’s Children’s Miracle Network Champion. In March 2025, she started her journey which involved traveling throughout the islands. Aurelia’s goal was to bring awareness of the struggles children face while in the hospital and to raise money to help children get the necessary equipment needed to leave the hospital. Unfortunately, Aurelia’s campaign stopped short due to further decline of her heart.

On September 18^th of this year, Aurelia was admitted into Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and is being monitored closely so that she can gain more weight, nutrition and more calories. As of October 1^st, her name was placed on the Heart Transplant waitlist. We are currently in the hospital waiting on when Aurelia will need to place a BiVentricular Assist Device (BiVAD) to help support her heart while she waits for a new heart to become available. A BiVAD is two mechanical pumps that will be surgically implanted into her heart to help circulate blood. Her current heart will get a break, while the mechanical hearts will pump and assist her body. This will allow Aurelia more time while she waits for a heart to become available which could be from 6 months to a year or more. Without a BiVAD placement, there is a very high chance that Aurelia’s current heart would not last until a new heart becomes available.

For 12 years, Aurelia has been a complete joy to be around. She brightens up every room she steps in. Her laughter is infectious, and her personality and determination are truly unmatched. Aurelia wants to learn about everything; she wants to explore and feel her environment. She has this ability to draw anyone into her environment. Aurelia has a way to make people laugh and she is able to connect with everyone on such a personal level.

Kaimi and Quinn will be living in Hawaii and flying up when they can. We do have insurance, and we are trying to apply for MedQuest, but we are still waiting on word on that. This is why we have partnered with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) for assistance. We could use your assistance and help by donating to COTA for Aurelia, to help with transplant-related expenses such as medical costs that our insurance doesn’t cover fully, (co-payments, co-payments for specialized services and procedures) travel, lodging expenses and food expenses.

Aurelia and I will be inpatient here at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital for several months to maybe even years. But what a blessed day that will be to be finally back in Hawaii with all her family and friends.

The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) helps children and young adults who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support. COTA is the nation’s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars in honor of transplant-needy children and young adults. 100% of each contribution made to COTA in honor of our patients helps meet transplant-related expenses. COTA’s services are free to our families, and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.