In 2016 while Kayla was working as a volunteer nurse at an NGO Children’s Hospital in Uganda, an extremely sick 2 year old boy named Wavamuno Patrick was rushed into the Emergency Ward. Based on her pediatric nursing experience, Kayla was sure he had a heart defect. It was later confirmed to be Tetralogy of Fallot, a combination of four heart defects. Many children with this heart condition don’t make it to their first birthday without having surgical repair, Patrick was already two and a half. When Kayla asked the doctors about surgical options for Patrick in Uganda, they solemnly told her that there was nothing they could do and that Patrick would likely die within the next few years.

At this point Kayla had fallen in love with Patrick and spent the next 11 months searching for a hospital or organization that could help Patrick, all while traveling back and forth from Uganda to be with him. In late 2017, Kayla found a hospital in Kentucky that was willing to do Patrick’s surgery. Kayla flew to Uganda to pick up Patrick and bring him to the US. However, their initial Visa was denied and she spent the next several weeks diligently fighting to ensure Patrick would get a Visa. Finally in February of 2018, Kayla was able to fly with Patrick to the US. 

After arriving in Kentucky, Kayla took Patrick for his first pre-op appointment where doctors informed her that Patrick’s heart was dangerously weak. He was admitted to the Cardiac ICU, where they started him on medication to strengthen his heart and ran tests to try and figure out what was causing his heart to deteriorate. Tragically, despite their best efforts, Patrick’s heart continued to decline and he was no longer a candidate for surgery.

Through it all, Patrick kept his sweet demeanor and continued to play, laugh, and eat his favorite candy (Skittles). Kayla made the difficult decision to take Patrick out of the hospital to live out his last days in the comfort of their home. On March 8th, 2018 Wavamuno Patrick peacefully died in Kayla’s arms. 

Before his death, Kayla made Patrick 3 promises:

1. She was going to do everything in her power to help his sister Mbwali Gift (whom Kayla discovered also had a heart defect)

2. She would always look after his family, including his mother and four siblings, making sure they were safe and well taken care of.

3. That Patrick’s story would be bigger than his tragic death, that Kayla would turn the heartbreak of their story into something meaningful.

Kayla kept those promises. In August of 2018, she brought Patrick’s sister Gift back to the same hospital in Kentucky where she successfully had open heart surgery. In Spring of 2019, Kayla returned to Uganda and with the help of fundraising was able to buy a plot of land and build Patrick’s mother a house. She is currently living in that house, farming the land, and sending all of her children to school, including Gift who is healthy and thriving. While building the house, Kayla met a boy named Martin, who presented similarly to Patrick, and had a heart defect. Kayla decided then that she would start a nonprofit to help Ugandan children with heart defects get life-saving surgery. She called it Paty’s Project in honor of her beloved Patrick.