Community High School

Engineering New Lives

It was the summer of 1978 that would change Kathy Hammons’s life forever.

She was 19 and had just finished her first year at Alma College, where she was going to school to become a minister.

Things were going well for Kathy. She had always been a hard worker, and very ambitious. She graduated high school with a GPA of 4.35 while maintaining a steady job.

While working to save money for college she had what she thought was an allergic reaction. After months of extensive testing doctors determined she had Lupus.

Lupus is an autoimmune dieses. Unlike AIDS, where a patient has under reactive white blood cells, Lupus patients have over-reactive white blood cells. “Whenever a germ or infection enters the body, the white blood cells snap to attention and race toward the scene of the crime.” says AskJeeves.com

After being diagnosed with Lupus, Kathy went through a series of trials and errors with any and all treatments. She tried anything from chemo to steroids to anti-malaria drugs to various experimental drugs. These treatments helped control her Lupus but they had unmerciful side effects. They caused cataracts, weight gain, memory loss, loss of bone density and many others.

For 25 months Kathy had chemo. For the first 17 months she was hospitalized once a month for 3 days at a time. “I would be sick for a week, well for the next, then sick for 2 more weeks. Basically I had 1 good week each month” Kathy says.

After 17 months and no change in her health, Kathy’s chemo prescription was changed to once a day treatment at home. 8 months of the that and still there was no change in her health. There was no other treatment for Kathy to try. She was all out of options; the doctors gave her two months to live.

One fortunate night, Kathy stumbled upon a web page for Dr. Burt of Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He was conducting research on a new Lupus and other autoimmune disease treatment. It was called “Stem Cell Transplants”.

A stem cell transplant is a transplant of white blood cells. Doctors take the white blood cells from the patient and copy them. The copied versions are renewed and put back into the patient. With the renewed immune system the patient has to redevelop. This takes time because the immune system is like a child, vulnerable to sickness.

Of course it was risky, like all medicinal experiments are, but it was the only shot at improving. Therefore, she went through with the procedure. She became the 5th person on the planet to have a stem cell transplant done.

Although Kathy’s recuperation was slow she had patients.  A strict diet with the absents of fresh vegetables, and fruits was hard.  Also her living conditions had to change.  No house plants or fresh flowers were to be in her home for fear of an infection of her immune system.  She could not visit friends or family with any pets in the home either.  The family pet also could not stay for fear she would get sick. She had to make tough choices so she could regain her health. Although the first year was hard, she made it through making good choices with her health in mind. Her reward was a new immune system. Every year since her operation Kathy is stronger and has done things that she never dreamed she could.  Kathy has gone rock climbing, white water rafting, and done other extreme sports. She is going to the University of Michigan to become a nurse. Kathy is doing things that would have been impossible to her before her transplant, but now these things are only natural.