By Will Chavez
Staff Writer 

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Feb. 14 is National Donor Day, but for one area Cherokee family the day has extra meaning. 

Two-year-old Kevlynn Jenkins has been in St. Louis for a month receiving treatment for dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition that causes the heart to weaken and enlarge to where it cannot pump blood efficiently. The decreased heart function can also affect the lungs, liver and other body systems.

Jenkins, a Cherokee Nation citizen, was released from the hospital on Jan. 14 and is stable but waiting on a heart transplant at the Ronald McDonald House in St. Louis with her mother Kristal. The CN is assisting the family with housing expenses during their stay.

“It’s kind of like a waiting game now. As long as she’s good and heart does all right, they are going to let her stay out of the hospital. Now she’s on the list waiting on a transplant,” said her grandmother Pat Garrett of Stilwell.

It may be two weeks to six months before a compatible heart is found for Kevlynn, the family has been told. 

Garrett said her granddaughter’s heart condition is genetic. The mother carries the gene and usually it only affects male family members. 

“My dad, my younger brother and my son all died from it,” she said.

When Kevlynn was born with a heart murmur at W.W. Hastings Indian Hospital in Tahlequah she was sent for further testing in Tulsa where it was confirmed she had dilated cardiomyopathy.

Due to the rarity of the condition, medical representatives from Baylor University are interested in the Jenkins case and have requested blood samples and samples of Kevlynn’s damaged heart once it is replaced. 

Previously, four members of the family have submitted to providing blood samples to Harvard University for further research on the disease. The Harvard tests showed only Garrett and her daughter to be carrying the gene the causes the disease. 

“It’s in our genes. And Harvard said it might be just a normal gene in Indian people, but they haven’t tested many Native American people yet,” Garrett said.

Garrett is raising funds to help her daughter and granddaughter pay expenses. She is selling chances for $100 Wal-Mart gift card and planning a spaghetti dinner from 4p.m. to 7 p.m. on Feb. 27 at the Hulbert Senior Citizens Center. Plates will be $5, which includes a drink and dessert. 

A bank account has also been established for Kevlynn at Banc First banks in Oklahoma. For more information, call Garrett at (918) 905-1515. 

Along with her fundraising, Garrett is encouraging people to become organ donors. National figures show about 74 people receive an organ transplant each day. However, about 17 people die each day waiting for a transplant due to a shortage of donated organs.

“A lot of people just don’t think about donating organs. It’s a hard thing to think about, but when you need one it’s a lot different,” Garrett said. “When you go get your (driver’s) license tell them ‘yeah, I’ll give you a dollar and I’ll be an organ donor.’” 

According to the National Minority Organ and Tissue Transplant Education Program, successful transplantation is often enhanced by matching of organs between members of the same racial and ethnic group. Generally people are genetically more similar to people of their ethnicity or race than to people of other races. Therefore, matches are more likely and timelier when donors and potential recipients are members of the same ethnic background.

In Kevlynn’s case, Garrett said the doctors treating her are not necessarily searching for a heart donated from a Native American person. They just require a heart that is compatible. 

“There are so many people that are waiting for transplants. You can help someone by donating your organs, Garrett said. “It may sound weird, but you’re not going to need them. Your spirit’s already gone. You don’t need your eyes, liver and heart and stuff when you go to heaven, so donate them. I don’t know how else to say it.”

Reach Staff Writer Will Chavez at (918) 207-3961 or will-chavez@cherokee.org