Our Team

Emily Hamby

Anti-Kell

Emily first learned about her Kell antibodies during her pregnancy with her third child.  Testing revealed that her husband, Dwane, is a heterozygous genetic carrier for the Kell antigen, meaning all of their children hold a 50/50 chance of inheriting this antigen and being at risk for Hemolytic Disease of the Fetus and Newborn (HDFN).

Emily Hamby

Anti-Kell

Emily first learned about her Kell antibodies during her pregnancy with her third child.  Testing revealed that her husband, Dwane, is a heterozygous genetic carrier for the Kell antigen, meaning all of their children hold a 50/50 chance of inheriting this antigen and being at risk for Hemolytic Disease of the Fetus and Newborn (HDFN).

Emily and Dwane found out their first child, Miles, is Kell+, which could possibly explain his jaundice and abnormal bloodwork as a newborn.  Thankfully, he recovered without needing medical intervention.  Emily’s second child, Sophie, is likely Kell-negative.

Emily’s pregnancy with her third child, daughter Vada, was very complicated.  Emily had critical titers of 64 (at 10 weeks) and 256 (at 28 weeks).  She was co-managed by several perinatologists and had weekly MCAs; in addition, she had monitoring for insulin-dependent gestational diabetes and recurring complete placenta previa.  Emily had elevated MCA scans approaching 1.5 MoM, but thankfully a rescan the next day showed no signs of anemia.

At 33 weeks, Emily had another concerning MCA scan.  Two days later, she had another elevated MCA.  Out of caution, the decision to deliver via c-section was made and Vada was born at 33w4d.  Fortunately, Vada turned out to be Kell-negative, but she was kept in the NICU for 17 days, to work on feeding and other preemie issues.  These days, Vada is a happy and healthy toddler.

Emily works in the customer service industry.  She resides in the Midwest with Dwane, their kids Miles, Sophie, and Vada, and black lab mix Brie.  She is active in the Facebook alloimmunization support group and credits her husband, MFMs, pediatric hematologist and other allo moms with helping her get through everything.

She enjoys music, film, traveling, writing, stand-up comedy, and spending time with her family and friends.