Tiny But Mighty: A Lesson in Resilience From My Daughter

Authenticity is at the center of who I am not only as a political candidate but as a person. Today I want to share something that is on my heart - not for sympathy but to be open about something that does affect my daily life and therefore could theoretically impact my availability for events as a candidate in the future.

My daughter Kinsley Rae has brain cancer. This is not a new diagnosis and the tumor was found in May of 2022. However, the tumor is inoperable and she will need to receive care in some form for the rest of her life. She was medically complex prior to the cancer diagnosis. However, the cancer diagnosis exacerbated many of those pre-existing issues.

We call Kinsley our “Rae of Sunshine” because she is just that - a light in an incredibly dark situation who faces every challenge with more bravery than I’ve seen in most adults. After her diagnosis in May of 2022, she had a biopsy that determined the tumor was Grade 2 and that she would need treatment to stop it from growing. The tumor is inoperable and expands into multiple parts of her brain. She underwent 70 weeks of chemotherapy every week and spent much of 2022 and 2023 in the hospital. She faced

multiple complications, ended up on TPN (feeding via IV), and was septic at one point. However, on October 18, 2023 she rang the bell after 70 weeks of grueling treatment and I could not be more proud of the bravery and strength she showed at only 3 and 4 years old as she faced the unimagineable.

Since that day, Kinsley has had to go for sedated MRIs every 3 months and will continue to do that for the next few years. She also has long lasting effects from the chemotherapy and has to work very hard in physical, occupational, speech, and feeding therapy to gain skills she lost during treatment as well as skills she has had a harder time gaining due to side effects. She also developed epilepsy and had to have

surgery to have a vagal nerve stimulator placed in January of this year. Thankfully, the surgery has helped her immensely and she is no longer having upwards of 30 seizures a day. Despite it all, she continues to persevere and wakes up each day with a smile on her face ready to take on the world. She LOVES school, being a Girl Scout, and getting to be with her friends. Her favorite activities are being a menace to her sister Charlotte, hanging out with her service dog Hope, singing/dancing, and painting. 

Today is MRI day and I am currently waiting for Kinsley to come out of anesthesia as I write this. We hope that we will see no growth on the scan and continue to have her off treatment for now. We know that treatment will be in her future at some point and we are ready to face that when the time comes. However, we spend as much time as we can focusing on joy and living life to the fullest, even on the days where things seem impossible.

Getting to be Kinsley’s mom is one of my greatest joys in life and has influenced so much of who I am as a person since she came into the world. She has taught me that I had strength I didn’t know existed within me, that joy can be found in even the darkest of times, and that there is nothing we can’t face when we have the right people around us.

Before every medical procedure Kinsley and I do affirmations we came up with when she was about a year old. Today she did them on her own without me prompting her and they are what I will carry with me through this campaign:

I am brave.

I am strong.

I can do hard things.