Photo courtesy of Yaikinisha Coles.
Nya Jona’ Hodoh’s dream of helping others with health issues like hers will live on through her mother, Yaikinisha Coles, and the efforts that she’s making in her daughters honor.
Like many 18 year-olds fresh out of high school, Chelsea resident Nya Jona’ Hodoh was looking toward her future with bright eyes and high hopes.
With an academic scholarship to Tuskegee University, she was set to begin classes in the fall of 2018 as a pre-med major, all part of her goal to become a hematologist and find a cure or treatment plan for people like her, suffering from deep vein thrombrosis (DVT).
DVT typically occurs when a blood clot forms in one or more of the deep veins in the body, usually in the legs. Symptoms that usually accompany it are leg pain and swelling, but symptoms aren’t always apparent.
Having been born with a clubbed foot, Nya had foot operations since she was an infant. According to her mom, Yaikinisha Coles, this established blood clots. Issues with DVT began five years ago, when Nya developed a clot in her left thigh. To help alleviate it, she started doing special injections twice a day.
Two years ago, after Nya fainted while working a shift at Publix, doctors discovered that the clot in her thigh broke off and created three more, one in her heart and another two in her lungs. The family decided to continue with medication.
In May 2018, after fainting again from dehydration, another clot was discovered in her heart and doctors said that they needed to remove them. After Nya’s surgery, because of the speed at which she was recovering, she was discharged from the hospital ahead of schedule.
However, Nya continued to feel chest pain, that she assumed were from the incision from her surgery, but were actually symptoms of another clot. She passed away June 15, 2018.
“I remember the last time that we were in the hospital,” Coles said. “I said, ‘You’ll have your white coat one day and you’ll be talking to some kids that look just like you and telling them that it’s going to be OK.’”
Since her daughter’s passing, Coles has done an extensive amount of research on blood clots and discovered that it’s an issue that affects many people in different ways. She has now taken it upon herself to be an advocate and voice for children and their parents that may be going through the same situation.
On Dec. 15, just six months after Nya’s passing, Coles hosted the first annual Jona’ Treasure Boutique. Fashion was something she and her daughter had a great love for and bonded over.
“It clicked in my head that I needed to do something that would honor her,” Coles said.
Donors were able to pick out gently used, trendy items at the boutique, with the proceeds going to the National Blood Clot Alliance. Coles said her daughter would be ecstatic if she could see what she had put together.
Coles was able to raise more than $5,000.
“She will live on through everything that I do,” Coles said.
