Kendall Gagliano: A Doctor In The Making

It’s very rare for a child to know exactly what they want to be when they grow up. Often times, children’s life goals will change day to day from being a doctor or nurse to super-hero or policeman, whatever seems to tickle their fancy at that moment in time. But Kendall Gagliano, she knew what she wanted to be from the very early age of four.

“I remember [her pediatrician] would wear a stethoscope and on it was a Buzz Lightyear action figure along with a black cat that would makes a noise when you press it. One day I was in the office for a migraine and I was playing with her stethoscope while she was examining me,” Kendall reminisces fondly about that moment with her pediatrician, Dr. Sandra Mathur, “I told her ‘Someday when I grow up I want to be just like you.’”

Even Karen Gagliano, Kendall’s mom, remembers, “At around age three, we would watch “E.R.” and she would be wearing her grandmother’s stethoscope and mimicking the same procedures on her teddy bear. She would rather watch “E.R.” than cartoons.”

Kendall Michelle Gagliano, was born a healthy little girl in Covina, California, and has been defying expectations since she came into this world. “My doctor, accidentally, told me we were having a boy. I wanted it to be a surprise but he let us know to expect a big, boy,” Karen remembers, “I got my surprise, a beautiful, healthy little girl.”

Despite being born a healthy baby, Kendall started developing excruciating migraine headaches at an early age. Karen remembers when her daughter was sick and complaining of a headache, “I thought, ‘Oh my god, my four year old daughter is having migraines.’ And so I immediately took her to see a neurologist.” It was then that Kendall was started on migraine medication.

In elementary school Kendall frequented the nurse’s office, she became known as the “headache girl” and was relentlessly teased by fellow classmates year after year. Many times she would go home crying from the feeling of unacceptance from her others in her class.

“With invisible illnesses, meaning illnesses where you can’t blatantly see the effects on someone, people tend to not believe you,” remembering how fellow students treated her, “Often people, including some of my friends and family, even doctors, thought I was faking my pain. It’s still something I have to deal with to this day.”

Fortunately in those early years, the migraine headaches came and went like the breeze allowing her little but some relief; however, just as fickle the weather so too was her migraines. Anything could set off her headaches from extreme weather conditions to food triggers.

At the start of puberty Kendall became dangerously anemic. She would be diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, an endocrine system disorder whose treatment often involves hormone therapy with a birth control pill in order to regulate hormone levels. “I was 12 years old when I was put on the pill and that was the start of the 24 hour headache. [The headache] debilitated me. I couldn’t go to school. I couldn’t even leave my house. ”

After trying different types of hormone medication, with still no relief from the 24 hour headache, Kendall decided (with her doctors) that she would rather live with her symptoms from polycystic ovary syndrome than to live with the long-lasting migraine. Hoping that this decision would end the 24 hour migraine, Kendall soon found out this would not be the case, “Ever since I was taken off birth control, I’ve been living with this migraine headache for every second of every day.”

Not one to let her headaches take over her world, she started high school. She was in the honors program and was thoroughly enjoying drama, an activity that helped her cope with her pain. But her migraines would develop beyond her capacity to contain, “I had started to lose my vision. I couldn’t concentrate in class because the lights and noise would aggravated my headache. I was miserable.” So under doctor’s recommendation, Kendall continued her education through independent study where she continued her academic excellence while having repeated, scheduled doctor’s appointments.

At the age of 16, most teenagers are concerned with the latest news of their inner circle of friends, getting good grades, making their high school sports team, and, sometimes, celebrity gossip.

However, Kendall had more pressing matters to deal with, her doctor had recently changed practices and she was without a primary care physician at a time when her blood pressure was on the rise, “I contacted the old medical clinic [Dr. Mathur] was at and they told me I needed to go to Children’s Hospital of Orange County because I was at risk of having a stroke.”

It was at C.H.O.C. that the E.R. doctor prescribed a spinal tap; the procedure that Karen Gagliano had wanted done a year earlier in an effort to get a diagnosis for Kendall’s ailments but was never conducted because it was deemed too invasive for a child.

“My mom had spent so many sleepless nights searching the internet doing her own research on what could be causing my pain.” Kendall mentions that Karen had a suspicion that only a spinal tap could confirm.

Remembering the moment the neurologist confirmed the spinal tap lab results as having Psuedotumor Cerebri, “Nobody does research like a mother when her child is sick,” Karen said, “I knew she had I.H. a year prior, but her doctor didn’t want to do the spinal tap if she didn’t have the other telltale signs. So when we finally knew what it was, I was relieved.”

Pseudotumor Cerebri, known by its simpler name Intracranial Hypertension, is a rare condition where the pressure inside the skull increases without reason and treatments to alleviate symptoms can include diuretics to decrease spinal fluid pressure and/or periodic surgeries to relieve fluid pressure build-up.

Kendall is allergic to diuretics and therefore only had the option of surgery. She immediately reached out to I.H. sufferers, via a Facebook group, where she was directed to Dr. Lew Disney, through a local Southern California I.H. sufferer.

“Actually, her pediatrician was against Kendall getting the procedure,” Karen opens up about the decision, “But, Kendall told her doctor she can live with the headaches but she can’t live without being a doctor. And she couldn’t go to school to become a doctor unless she did something about the headaches. [Kendall] was very close to her pediatrician so she eventually said ‘ok’.”

After consulting with Dr. Disney, who agreed to the perform the surgery that would alleviate Kendall’s pain, they scheduled her first surgery in January 2013.

Kendall remembers this day so vividly, “I was seventeen. I had never been so scared in my life. I was scared because the risks of complications and I know my body doesn’t heal very well, so I didn’t know how this would turn out.”

Complications from surgery, including a staph infection and an allergic reaction to suture material, had Kendall back in the hospital for numerous revision surgeries during the following eight months.

September 2013 was the last surgery and despite having to schedule follow-up surgeries every 2 – 3 years in order to maintain pain manageability, this has not slowed her down.

Less than a year after her surgery, Kendall graduated from high school and immediately started the summer session at Citrus College. It was her first time back in a classroom so she decided to take one class, a health class, and although she was a little apprehensive after being out of a classroom after so long, she was very excited to be starting her official path to becoming a doctor.

After spending what seems like a lifetime at home, in a clinic or at the hospital, Kendall is grabbing life by the horns and thriving, “I’m experiencing so many firsts here and I couldn’t be happier. I truly feel like this is my time to shine.”

Going to Citrus College gave Kendall many “firsts” in her life. The first involvement in campus clubs, her first group activity with friends, the first official classes to become a doctor, her first boyfriend, and even her first best-friend.

“I’ve known Kendall since Fall 2014 semester. We met in AGS. Actually, we were carpooling to a fundraising event. We talked about our goals and about the medical field during the whole trip,” best-friend Jorge Urquiza remembers becoming friends right away.

“She’s very bright, has a good heart and is an outgoing person. She’s also very determined. Determined to help others, whether it be someone on campus or in AGS. She’s also very determined to reach her goals which inspires me to reach for my own goals.”

Going into fall semester, Kendall got involved on campus in full force. She was taking four classes, had began working in the DSP&S office and joined AGS, an honor society on campus, as treasurer. Such a full load while dealing with a disability is not easy, but, being a DSP&S student has helped her gain the assistance she needs to be successful.

Winter session of 2015 was especially exciting for Kendall. It was during this time she introduced the event Denim Dash to her club, AGS. “I found out about Denim Dash through an email from Global Genes. Global Genes is an organization that helps the rare disease community and I was heavily involved with them,” Kendall said,” I told AGS about this event and they were very interested in participating.” Denim Dash is a virtual 5k that, for one week, encourages everyone to raise awareness of their rare disease by participating in an activity of your own liking, as long as you are spreading the word and posting your progress on social media.

This event encourages everyone to get sponsorship and more importantly to be your own advocate.  So, with the encouragement from the club, Kendall organized a Denim Dash event at Citrus College. “I wanted the event to be big,” Kendall said, “So I asked the school if we could have it on campus and they allowed me to host the event at the stadium.” After the approval of the use of the stadium, Kendall planned the first Denim Dash event all by herself, and executed the event with the support of AGS.

Raquel Gutierrez, advisor for AGS, remembers the first Denim Dash event, “I had just signed up to be an advisor for the club, when Andrea [former AGS advisor] told me I would be in charge of the closing shift of the event. We ended up raising a little over $1000 which is really impressive for running an event like that for the very first time.”

With the success of Denim Dash under her belt, Kendall continued the spring semester working, attending Med-Health Club, participating in AGS, all while enrolled in four classes. By the end of spring semester Kendall had been elected President of AGS where she still holds the position.

Unwavering in her mission to complete her path to becoming a doctor, Kendall has remained enrolled every semester and intersession knocking out required classes to transfer to Cal-Poly Pomona for Fall 2017, so she can finish her bachelor’s degree in biology before going to the University of Washington to complete her doctorate.

She’s also been very active in school events in addition to leading AGS. In the summer of 2015, she spoke at the scholarship banquet to a room full of Citrus scholarship fund winners, herself included, and in front of the board of trustees.

Most recently she attended a public forum, on campus, to advocate for student’s with disabilities. “Since I work with students with disabilities I want to help be a voice for them, so I went to this forum to speak on their behalf. I plan on running as commissioner for ASCC where I hope to advocate for students, so this forum was a [springboard] for me,” Kendall said.

Julie Law, advisor for AGS, mentions an interaction she observed between Kendall and another student, “There was a student who was in a wheelchair and he felt like he couldn’t get involved with activities on campus, but Kendall told him, ‘Actually, you can! We [AGS] will have activities where we’ll make sure that you can participate in.’ So it’s in that extra heart, that extra giving, she wants to make sure that everyone is included. She’s very compassionate.”

This semester, Spring 2016, Kendall continues to work up to 20 hours in the DSP&S office, is taking chemistry and lab in addition to precalculus. She often starts her day with studying at 5 AM and in her free time throughout the day, she handles AGS presidential responsibilities and planning future events, especially Denim Dash; evenings are reserved for homework and other unfinished AGS business.

“This spring semester, [Kendall] has been more focused on her baby project, Denim Dash,” Julie Law shares her thoughts on this year’s event, “Last year was a really good start. It gave us the momentum for us to keep continuing with [the event] and to make it bigger and better. Our goal is to double last what we did last year.” This year’s Denim Dash event is taking place Saturday, March 26, at the Citrus College Stadium. Everyone is invited to participate, show support and help raise awareness for the rare disease community. Jorge Urquiza adds, “We’ll be having other clubs on campus participate, there’ll be live bands for entertainment, a food truck and booths set up for information on rare diseases.”

Although Kendall is extremely busy with work, school, and club activities, she still needs to take time to take care of herself and the effects of her rare disease. She visits the doctor’s office twice a week for check-ups and prescription refills. Recently she things seem to be catching up with her. “I was in the [school] parking lot doubled over in pain. Since I can’t drive, because my vision could change drastically with the amount of pain I experience, my boyfriend Rene offered to drive me to emergency. He’s my rock,” Kendall continues, “It’s been about three years since my last surgery, so it’s about time for me to get revision surgery.”

But despite these setbacks in health, Kendall is determined to stay on course with her goal, “This coming fall I plan on taking calculus, a chemistry class and a biology class. If I end up having to have surgery, then I will probably schedule it during a summer or winter session so I can have time to heal but not miss a semester.”

From the age of four Kendall has always known what she wanted to be and has not let a debilitating rare disease stop her. She continues to inspire those around her to keep thriving, advocate for yourself, help others and more importantly, to never give up on your dreams.

“I have had this dream for when I become a pediatrician with my own practice. I want to have a waiting room with some blank scrubs, a table and fabric markers,” Gagliano said.

“My patients will be free to draw whatever they like on the scrubs and I’ll wear them. I want them to feel like they are apart of me. I also want to periodically offer free health services for the homeless, since I know this is a big issue,” Kendall continues to share her life dream.

“In addition to having my own practice, I’ll be living in the Washington area with a husband and two kids. It’s beautiful up there and seems like a good place to raise a family.”