But running a company isn’t the only challenge Kaitlyn
faces. The young couple also has a 2-year-old soon
named Mack. And earlier this year, they faced the type
of scare all parents dread.
Mack is a spirited child and prone to tantrums. He
would get so overworked, he’d faint. One day, when
the couple was away on a Valentine’s Day getaway
they received a call from Kaitlyn’s father informing
them Mack was acting lethargic. They immediately
flew home. But when they got to him, Mack was
completely fine. They chocked it up to another tantrum
and decided to head over to THE AMERICAN rodeo
in Arlington, TX.
“He started acting super lethargic. As a mom you
know when something is wrong with your son.
If something's off I can tell, and he wasn't acting
himself,” Kaitlyn said. “I woke Cooper up early and
said, ‘we're going to the hospital.’ So we show up
to the Emergency Room at Dallas Children's Medical
Center. They took one look at him and they said he
looked super gray and transparent. So they decided
to rush him back.”
They ran a blood test on Mack. A regular person’s
hemoglobin is around 12 to 14. Mack was at 2.6
and dropping. Although still undiagnosed, the word
“Leukemia” was uttered by every doctor they saw.
Doctors weren’t sure if it was cancer or a disease
called T-E-C. The long word for it is Transient
Erythroblastopenia of Childhood. “When they said that
to me, my first thought was, is he going to live?”
But it is actually the best scenario. Although it is more
rare than cancer, it’s easily treatable.
Unfortunately, they still don’t have a concrete answer.
“It’s hard to look at your child when they’ve told you
they really don't know what's wrong with him and
they just think it's this long word. There’s no way to
know for sure. So it really bothers Cooper and I. I
mean obviously every day we worry about him, and
we always wonder is he going to relapse? Could it
happen again? Could it be cancer because they really
weren't sure?”
Kaitlyn wanted to take their experience and in light of
not knowing, turn it into something positive.
HOPE LASHES
“I designed the lashes to be super natural, I wanted
them to be something that someone going through
chemo who lost their eyelashes would want to wear
on an everyday basis. If one pair is purchased, we
donate a pair. So if you were to go on my site and
purchase three pairs, we would donate three pairs,”
Kaitlyn said.
In a short time, Kaityln’s operation has become large
scale. “I wasn't expecting to grow so rapidly, but with
the broad social media spectrum that Cooper and I
both have, it just grew overnight. People call them the
Rodeo Lashes. I'm a wholesale only company when it
comes to my lashes. So, I sell them to all these mom
and pop boutiques, and they sell them. They mark it
up and they make their profit.”
Kaitlyn is a self-proclaimed style diva. Her specially-
designed closet holds everything from Celine bags to
Christian Louboutins heels to Valentinos.
“I'm still young, so I like to incorporate things that are
trendy, but I like to add touches of a western flair. I
love rhinestones and sparkle, and still having my diva
personality designer things,” she said.
Although her husband won $1 million riding bulls,
she is determined to make her own way and her own
money.
“This point drove me more than anything, I'm going to
take this and I'm going to contribute to my family. I'm
not going to be what people expect me to be, which
would be stop working. Not reaching higher goals or
set any kind of goals for myself,” Kaitlyn said. “I'm not
just going to be a trophy wife, I want to be a wife that
makes her own choices too, while my husband does
the same thing. And that was the goal from the start.”
Kaitlyn with her husband Cooper
and their son Mack.