Students and teachers in the Springs and East Hampton School Districts wore green on Friday in a continued show of support for Kayla Kearney, the 20-year-old Springs college student who has undergone several complicated medical procedures since January for treatment of a rare type of brain tumor.
Kayla, a junior at Johnson and Wales in Providence, R.I., is making “baby steps” toward recovery every day at Weill-Cornell Hospital in Manhattan, her mother, Laura Kearney, said this week. Just last Thursday, the second half of her brain plate was surgically restored to Kayla’s skull, having been removed previously to allow the treatment of swelling. Her eyes actively track the voices of people speaking to her, and she can squeeze her hand and wiggle her toes. She’s being slowly weaned off the pain medication that is affecting her alertness, and while she still has a trach collar to help her take in oxygen, she no longer needs a ventilator to breathe.
“These sound like tiny steps, but they’re actually huge for us,” Ms. Kearney said. “Things have been going pretty smoothly, and we’re hoping things continue to do so.”
Kayla has endured many challenges since December, when she was diagnosed with a large but fairly common pituitary gland tumor. On Jan. 17, she went in for what was supposed to be a routine surgery to remove it. It turned out to be a much more serious condition, her mother explained, and she was diagnosed with a paraganglioma, a type of neuroendocrine tumor that attaches to the blood vessels.
“She’s only the 32nd person in the world who has had this,” Ms. Kearney said. When they removed the tumor, “there was massive bleeding.” Kayla went on to have four strokes, swelling, and the loss of some blood vessels altogether, and underwent a craniotomy and medically induced coma to allow her brain to begin healing.
“They can’t really tell us what’s going to happen, how long it’s going to be,” Ms. Kearney said. “They said it will be months at least — a lot of months — for not only recovery but also rehab and therapies.”
In the meantime, the community has rallied around Kayla, whose father, Joe Kearney, retired from the East Hampton Town Police Department in 2019 after 22 years of service. The East Hampton Police Benevolent Association set up a GoFundMe fund-raising page, online at gofund.me/95156d7d, to help Kayla’s family pay for medical and travel expenses while she recovers. The Clubhouse on Daniel’s Hole Road will host a fund-raiser event in May as well.
Doctors took her off pentobarbital, a drug used to induce a coma, on Feb. 7. That was the same day that Billy Joel, one of Kayla’s favorite musicians, came out with his first new song in nearly 20 years, titled “Turn the Lights Back On.”
“It was oddly coincidental. He hadn’t made a song in so many years,” Ms. Kearney said. “It was like someone’s telling her it’s time to wake up. . . . It really hit us.”
When she regains full awareness, Kayla will have at least one more special surprise to look forward to: a signed portrait of Billy Joel, customized to say “Get well, Kayla,” sourced by a relative of a fellow police officer who is friends with the musician.
“That was jaw-dropping. That was amazing,” Ms. Kearney said. “I burst into tears because it was so amazing that Billy Joel would even do that. I showed it to Kayla and I was telling her about it, and her eyes were locked in on the picture.”
She said their family is so grateful for the support that it’s hard to put into exact words.
“The community is just so strong and amazing, and it blows us away,” Ms. Kearney said. “So many people have reached out with generosity, and we really appreciate everything.”
