Thanks to the support of the local community, KW Cares, the non-profit for Keller Williams International, has granted Kai Quinonez a grant for $22,400 to help with his medical bills with two more grants to come as needed. Quinonez, a Hopkinson Elementary School third-grader, has been undergoing chemotherapy for a rare blood disease called aplastic anemia.
Meanwhile, the family’s Rossmoor home was burglarized on Aug. 9, four days after they moved into the residence. Thieves took $15,000 worth of property.
The disease Quinonez has affects one in a million people. His bone marrow doesn’t produce enough red blood cells.
With two large turnouts at bone marrow drives for Kai Quinenez, the money raised by Hopkinson students and Keller Williams Realty Los Alamitos, the KW Cares grant committee were impressed by the local support.
“We are excited that the Quinonez family were granted these funds,” said Elaine Armogida, the team leader at KW Los Alamitos. “We successfully raised over $30,000, 400 bone marrow kits and 49 pints of blood at our office alone. We could not have done this without the participation of the local community.”
“The local community has rallied around to help Kai’s family try to deal with not only taking care of Kai but to help with the staggering medical costs,” said Armogida.
“Kai and his family are in Wisconsin, staying at the Ronald McDonald house and will be making a decision to either have another round of Chemo or a bone marrow transplant by an unrelated donor, which is risky,” said Armogida. “If they decide to proceed he will stay with his mother Beth in Wisconsin for 6 months and his brother Klaus will return to Los Alamitos for school.”
Keller Williams Realty Los Alamitos is still doing testing for bone marrow matches at the office.
“It is really easy to register,” said Richard Daskam, an agent at the office. “You fill out some paperwork, swab four areas of your mouth and you are done.”
