For a little girl who wears tutus and plays with stuffed ponies, Kayla Patrella is one tough kid.  The 5-year-old from Staten Island has survived years of hospitalizations and rigorous daily treatments for two rare medical conditions that impact her ability to clear her lungs and breathe.  “We’re blessed with the way she acts,” said her father, Michael Patrella, 36, a city Sanitation Department supervisor. “She really listens to the doctors.”  The 15-year veteran city worker assumed his health benefits would cover her many needs.  But he recently found out his insurance won’t pay for Tobramycin — a medication Kayla’s doctors newly prescribed to help prevent lung infection flareups.  “It could be $5,000 a month,” Patrella said. “That’s impossible for us to pay.”  At the urging of his friends and colleagues, Patrella and his wife, Jessica, started an online fund-raising campaign to help pay for the new, pricey out-of-pocket costs.  In less than two weeks, the page drew $10,000 in donations.  “I’ve worked all my life, it’s hard asking for help.” Patrella said. “But this is my daughter’s life.”  Kayla, who loves to draw and take gymnastics classes, has struggled since birth with a double diagnosis of Situs Inversus — a congenital condition in which the body’s internal organs are reversed — and Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia.  The genetic lung disorder causes the kindergartner’s body to have trouble keeping her ears and sinuses clean and clearing mucus, which can lead to frequent infections in her lungs, ears and throat.  Kayla has to use a nebulizer several times daily to open her lungs. She also wears a vibrating vest for 20 minutes twice a day to break up the mucus in her lungs during a separate nebulizer treatment.  Despite the family’s diligence, Kayla has had pneumonia four times since late 2013 and even celebrated her fifth birthday in the hospital.  Sanitation worker Chris Almon pushed his friend and colleague to go public after watching him struggle silently with the family crisis.  “This should not happen to a child,” said Almon, 38, a father of two. “This family needs help.”  Once Patrella saw the positive reaction to Almon’s Facebook post about their plight, he created KaylaLifeFund.org, which tells her story and links to the fund-raising site.  “I can’t even express how much it means to us that so many people want to help us,” mom Jessica Patrella said.
Kayla Patrella, 5, has Situs Inversus and Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia. She needs help paying for new medication not covered by insurance.