Benefit planned for Sinninghe family

By Ken Johnston
Editor

A benefit is being held for the Rod and Nikki Sinninghe family of Rainy River to help with expenses connected to their newborn baby Kenna who had major medical problems when she arrived on June 30th.
It all began when Nikki’s water broke unexpectedly on the night of June 29th. She and Rod drove to Fort Frances, but Nikki’s doctor was out of town, and the on call doctor didn’t feel comfortable doing a c-section since Nikki was about 3 weeks early.
It was decided to fly her to Thunder Bay where she gave birth to Kenna Rae Sinninghe the morning of June 30th. Kenna was born with a diaphragmatic hernia, a unilateral cleft palate and lip, a malfunctioning heart valve, and a malfunctioning kidney valve, none of which were detected in an ultra sound.
Luckily Kenna did not have a complete hole in her diaphragm, just a weak spot, so her intestines and bowels were not up in her chest cavity, which is what usually happens with this condition. She did have trouble breathing at birth though, so she was flown from Thunder Bay to London, Ontario to have surgery before she was 24 hours old to repair the weak spot.
Her intestines were not completely in their proper place though. That has been a big problem hindering her ability to eat. The doctors explained it as a lack of a twist or turn that would normally be there. It has caused her to not be able to eat her food as fast as a baby with normal intestines.
They started out by giving her 1 cc of food an hour. There are almost 30ccs in an ounce, and most newborns eat 2-4 ounces every few hours. After many delays and unwanted spit-ups over the last week, Kenna is now up to 17 ccs an hour and they are trying to increase her by 1 cc every eight hours of successful feeding.
Their goal at this point is to get her up to 21 ccs an hour, and then they will try 63 ccs at one time.
Rod and Nikki were finally able to feed her themselves last Wednesday with a special bottle for babies with a cleft lip and palate.
Her first surgery for her cleft lip will be performed around three months of age, depending on her health, and then surgery to on her palate sometime between nine and 18 months.
The bad kidney valve will require surgery, but not until around six months of age. She will need to be on antibiotics until the surgery and possibly after because she will be much more susceptible to kidney infections.
The heart valve will be monitored, but is also expected to correct itself over time.
So the Sinninghes are facing another few weeks in the hospital, plus at least three known surgeries in the next year to year and a half. These will all take place in London, Ontario which is about 18 driving hours away from here.
Fortunately all of their doctor expenses and some of their travel expenses are paid by government health insurance. However they have had to take a great deal of time off from work and be away from home and family. Rod and Nikki had to spend the first two weeks of Kenna’s life away from their two year old son, Ryder.
Friend of the family Jackie Bossoletti said, “It was very hard on all of them. The reunion between them was really heart wrenching.”
They have been staying at the Ronald McDonald house which is a wonderful facility. They are able to stay there for $10 a night and are provided with food, laundry facilities, internet and phone access, all of which really help to keep the cost of their stay down. Kenna’s progress can be followed as well as messages posted at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kennarae.
Kenna is still in the hospital in London. At this point they do not anticipate going back to Thunder Bay, but things change all the time. She is at the Victoria Hospital.
The benefit will be held on August 10th at 5-8 p.m, at the American Legion in Baudette. BBQ beef sandwiches will be served along with an assortment of sides. The food will be a free will offering, and a silent auction with items donated by businesses from the community.
Rod is the son of Rudy and Marie Sinninghe of Rainy River and Nikki is the daughter of Terri and Ken Thompson of Williams, MN. and Brian and Kim McNutt of Dacula, GA.