Makanalani Oke Akua Konanui just keeps on trucking — no matter the obstacle before the Big Island native.
From coming down with what her parents Cheryl and Fred Konanui thought initially was a childhood cold to being diagnosed days later at age 12 with acute myelogenous leukemia and undergoing the barrage of treatments that followed, nothing has stopped the now-teenage girl.
“She’s my little hero — even though she’s been down and out so much she just keeps on going,” said her mother Cheryl Konanui, speaking from the family’s current home in Makakilo, Oahu. “It’s only been two years since her diagnosis, but it’s seemed like a lifetime.”
Now 14 years old, the Oahu transplant is battling a severe infection that showed up following her latest round of chemotherapy in December. Last week, Makanalani, after suffering septic shock in late January, was released from Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children to recover at home.
Once her white blood cell count normalizes and she is deemed healthy enough, Makanalani will begin another round of chemotherapy, her mother said. She likely has four to five more treatments before she can even qualify for a bone marrow transplant — a treatment her mother said could save her life.
While Makanalani’s spirits are for the most part high, Cheryl said kind words, photos and other mementos from the Big Island community will give her strength as she continues her battle. In the past, those simple tokens of support have brought happiness to Makanalani, Cheryl said.
“She reads every single one with a big smile on her face,” Cheryl said about her daughter receiving cards from family, friends and people she’s never even met. “She even started to write back before she got sick again.”
Makanalani, though home, did not feel well enough this week to speak with West Hawaii Today.
Born April 5, 1997, Makanalani grew up a very healthy and active child with her four brothers and one sister. She lived for a short time in Kona, attending kindergarten at Kahakai Elementary School before the family moved to Hilo.
The Konanuis often camped at North Kohala’s Mahukona Beach Park where Makanalani loved picking opihi with her father. She also spent a fair amount of time on a motorcycle and riding in the car with him.
“She was a running, healthy, normal kid,” she said. “She was an overactive child until the point she got sick.”
It was the second week of August 2009 when Makanalani came down with a cold, or so Cheryl thought, when she noticed her 9-year-old daughter had swollen glands and bleeding and abscessed gums. On Aug. 12, Makanalani was found unresponsive at the family’s Hilo home.
She was rushed to Hilo Medical Center where she began to respond to medical treatment. Blood tests to determine what exactly was wrong with Makanalani were subsequently administered.
An hour later, the family was told to go home, pack enough belongings to last a week and meet a helicopter that would take them to Kapiolani Medical Center. There, at the Oahu hospital, Makanalani was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, or AML.
AML, according to the National Institutes of Health, is a cancer that starts inside bone marrow, which is the soft tissue inside bones that helps form blood cells. The cancer grows from cells that would normally turn into white blood cells, making the body prone to and less able to fight infection.
While Makanalani continues her battle, the family is working to maintain housing on Oahu. The Konanui family, though it has Big Island roots, moved to Oahu shortly after Makanalani’s diagnosis in order for them to be close during her treatment.
But it’s been tough, Cheryl said, noting that rent and other expenses are mounting — even though insurance covers most medical costs. Though mementos for her daughter are the most sought-after, monetary contributions will help, Cheryl said before noting she works full-time while her husband cares for Makanalani.
Letters and contributions can be sent to Makanalani Oke Akua Konanui, care of Cheryl Konanui, PO Box 700896, Kapolei, HI, 96709. Makanalani and her mother are also on Facebook.
