Kai Wa'a Strong

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07/12/2026

Join Us in Celebrating the Life of Kai Bartlett

📍 Maui, Hawaiʻi

Saturday, October 17�🌊 Kai Waʻa Strong Maliko Race & Paddle Out

Sunday, October 18�❤️ Celebration of Life

Please save the date. More event details and schedule will be shared soon.

It has been difficult finding the right words—and the right time—to celebrate Kai's life.

We decided to wait until the Hawaii paddling season finished so that friends and family could gather together without missing the races and commitments that meant so much to Kai.

Now, we hope you'll join us as we celebrate the incredible husband, father, son, brother, teammate, mentor, and friend that he was.

Kai lived life with passion, generosity, adventure, and an unmatched love for the ocean and the people around him. Each of us carries a story, a lesson, or a memory because of him, and we hope you'll join us in sharing those moments as we celebrate a life that meant so much us.

This weekend won't be about saying goodbye. It will be about celebrating the life he lived, the community he helped build, and the legacy that lives on through all of us.

Whether you knew Kai for decades or only crossed paths with him once, we'd be honored to have you with us.

We hope you'll join our ʻohana as we celebrate a life that continues to inspire so many.
❤️

11/13/2025

Started a new treatment last Thursday (Blenrep) and got the clear to head home for a couple weeks before getting the next dose.

Kai hasn’t been home in 4.5 months. Excited to hang with kids and play with the dogs. Will need to monitor him every other day with bloodwork but all worth it.

Continued prayers that this treatment works and allows him to get back to LIVING!

We didn’t tell the kids so we are excited to surprise them today.

Thank you Mike and Tim for getting our boy on the water. It had been over 3 months so you can imagine how much it meant...
11/03/2025

Thank you Mike and Tim for getting our boy on the water. It had been over 3 months so you can imagine how much it meant to Kai. Great brunch and South Bay cruise with great company. Appreciate all the love from you two and the Lanakila ʻohana out there. This was a great day for Kai.

Kai still hanging tough...Before another update I want to start with a big huge THANK YOU. Though Kai may be going thro...
11/03/2025

Kai still hanging tough...

Before another update I want to start with a big huge THANK YOU. Though Kai may be going through the thick of everything he definitely knows he is NOT ALONE. He has the support and love of so many so THANK YOU for continuing to reach out, continuing to pray for and continuing to support him and our family. We truly are blessed to have amazing people in our lives.

We are on a relentless pursuit to find a treatment for Kai that works and hats off to our amazing hemotology/oncology team at MD Anderson and City of Hope for being as persistent and relentless as Kai is. They have been working hard to push boundaries, play with fine lines between harm and health and trying desperately to get Kai home to family and friends.

Kai left for the Gorge on July 11th and has yet to make it back to Hawaii. He was able to celebrate his 50th with family and friends there and headed straight to MD Anderson. Had a 2+ month stay there at the hospital where his initial clinical trial failed then tried a bi-specific antibody called Teclistamab that unfortunately did not yield the results he needed to get the disease under control. After two failed attempts and way too much time away from the kids we decided to pull the kids early for fall break and meet us in California.

Kai originally did his stem cell transplant at the City of Hope in California in August of 2022. There, they were able to harvest a large number of stem cells and used half for his transplant and saved the other half. The idea for his third treatment attempt was doing high dose chemo and then a stem cell “boost” adding back his stem cells after chemo.

Kaiʻs parents and the kids flew up and were able to hang with dad at the City of Hope while he underwent the high dose chemo and stem cell boost. He tolerated it well however it unfortunately did yield the results we wanted. The intention was to bring the Myeloma down a bit so that when he starts a new immunotherapy it has a better shot at working. The chemo seems to have brought it down a little but not a lot. We are still staying the course and heading to Houston tomorrow, Nov 4th to start a brand new treatment, Blenrep. It just got approved by the FDA and has yielded some good results. With a number of failed treatments we are putting all our eggs in this basket to give us more time with Kai.

We are praying hard for this treatment to work so he can get home. Being away from home and the kids has by far been the hardest part for him. As always he never really complains and does what is asked (needles and nasty side effects). He handles it all like the champ he is and just takes it on one day at a time. It has been hard to see him trapped in four walls but he keeps the fight, the fight to get back on the ocean and be with the people he loves.

This journey is tough. We are all doing the best we can given the situation. Kai and I both have amazing parents that are staying strong and basically raising our children right now. They have been with the kids since the start of school so they are attending teacher conferences, making soccer snacks and taking kids to holiday events. I have no idea what we would do without them. We are so lucky and THANKFUL to have amazing parents and siblings. It absolutely breaks my heart to think about how strong the kids are having to be not knowing when mom and dad are coming home again and continuing in their new environments. Thank you to those who reach out and do things with/for the kids, it truly helps a ton.

Through all of this we still have so much light, here are a number of photos of everything over the past couple months. Weʻve met with friends in Houston, weʻve been able to spend time with the kids when they came to California, weʻve had amazing friends in California get Kai out to events and on the ocean just to stay sane.

As you can imagine itʻs is a roller coaster of emotions with some days being better than others. Thank you to those of you who reach out to Kai, please continue to do so. If he doesnʻt pick up itʻs likely because he is sleeping but know that he receives and hears every message so THANK YOU.

Getting him a boost of platelets and possibly blood today to then fly to Houston tomorrow and start the first dose of Blenrep on Thursday. Fingers crossed this works and we can make it home in time for the Holidays. Our sons favorite holiday of the year is Friendsgiving - would be amazing to make that a reality.

MAHALO again for all the love! Will try to get Kai to do a video to check in.

09/05/2025

It’s been a long day…will get an update out tomorrow but tonight can you help us by including Kai in your prayers. He could use a little extra right now 🙏🏽

07/04/2025

Bone marrow biopsy ✅. Feeling much better and clear to head home🙌🏽.

07/01/2025

It’s been a tough 6 months after finding out that Kai’s multiple myeloma was slowly creeping back again. Kai is fortunate to have a dream team of myeloma specialist from different research institutes and they all are on board with Kai enrolling in a clinical trial at MD Anderson in Houston that uses NK cells to find and fight off the myeloma by targeting NY-eso. It’s a phase I/II trial and we are hopeful it will put him back into remission once again and keep him there for as long as it can. Ironically, as Kai’s myeloma progressed his neurological side effects seem to be getting a little better (more engaged and having a wider range of emotions, which you can sort of see/hear in his video). So that has been awesome to get the engagement and joy back, I know Kai is eager to get some strength back and see if his balance and feel in the canoe come back as well. We came up to Houston for testing and he got admitted to ER urgently after his bloodwork showed his calcium at 17 and kidney function was bad. He was down really bad, had lost about 20lbs over the past couple weeks and was throwing up and needed to be wheel chaired from appointments. Poor guy. After getting into the hospital they got him some fluids and meds to control the calcium and things have been turning around. We got him on a bridging therapy to keep the myeloma at bay until the clinical trial start date which is right after the Gorge. We will head straight to Houston from Washington to stay here for about a month and fingers crossed all goes well and we will be back home late August in time for distance season. Will miss Keliana’s first day of kindergarten but we have the best grandparents so kids will be in good hands. Kai is in good spirits as always and continues to simply show up and fight. He never feels sorry for himself and is never pessimistic or down, I honestly don’t know how he does it. That perseverance and stubbornness🤯. We are still here in Houston a for some of his blood numbers to get better and for the last of his testing. Hoping we can head home soon to pack up for the Gorge and for Kai’s 50th birthday July 18th!! If possible please keep Kai in your prayers, he needs all the help he can get. I always say I’ll post more and life ends up taking over but I really will try to be better at getting updates on here. To all of you who continue to help us, especially our parents and my brother Kapena holding down the kids and adjusting schedules on the whim to help out…thank you! I’m sorry it’s always so chaotic with last minute appointments and flying across the country but things will get better. ❤️‍🩹. Love you all! Thanks for all the love and support it’s always been the light Kai needs to stay out of the dark. We are very blessed to have amazing support.

We got the best news the Thursday before Na Wahine O Ke Kai. Kai’s oncologist called letting him know that his bone mar...
10/13/2024

We got the best news the Thursday before Na Wahine O Ke Kai. Kai’s oncologist called letting him know that his bone marrow biopsy came back clear and more importantly his MRD testing came back negative as well. He had a clear biopsy after his CAR T treatment but we were unable to know whether or not he was MRD negative. This is AMAZING!!

MRD testing, or measurable residual disease testing, is a diagnostic tool that measures the amount of cancer cells remaining in the body after treatment. It's used to assess how well cancer treatments are working and to guide further treatment plans.

Kai has been on a bispecific antibody called Talquetamab along with Pomalyst since May. It has been awesome. He has side effects like loss of taste, peeling of hands/feet, finger and toenails falling off but as always he doesn’t ever really complain and handles it like a champ. He hasn’t had any negative neurological issues with this treatment which has been amazing!!

Poor guy had to have Mohs surgery on his face so he’s been out of the water for a bit but eager to get back in.

I know tomorrow is a bit bitter sweet as it’s the first Molokai Hoe he has missed in a long time but he is stoked and thankful to be able to be out there with his Wailea boys helping however he can.

Here he is with me after my Na Wahine O Ke Kai and with Tyson this morning before taking off for Molokai. Wishing all the men best of luck tomorrow!! Such a blessing to be out there in the Kaiwi.

As always thank you to everyone for the prayers and well wishes. Kai will take all he can get. Onward and up!!

Xoxo Kealani

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1515 Holcombe Blvd.
Houston, TX
77030

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