The 25-year-old from Dunedin is in Chicago waiting for a decision on whether she is a candidate for a stem cell transplant that could ease the pain caused by three autoimmune disorders.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published November 28, 2003
Emily Lane's hospital room in Chicago overlooks Lake Michigan. She can see the fireworks outside the window near the Navy Pier, and from her hospital bed, the snow falling outside.
Lane, 25, of Dunedin, takes this as a good sign.
For the next three to five months, she will be at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, hoping that a stem cell transplant could ease the disabling pain caused by three autoimmune disorders. She has been accepted for testing to determine whether doctors will try a stem cell transplant, which has not been scheduled yet. As those tests proceed, she tries to keep her spirits up.
"I feel very strong about this stem cell thing," Lane said in a telephone interview this week. "I think that it is really going to help me. It's going to be the key to everything."
Lane suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, a cartilage disorder and a blood clotting disorder. On some days, the pain is so great, she is unable to walk. Instead, she passes her days in a chair, taking pain pills and praying for a miracle.
She hopes Dr. Richard Burt, an immunologist at Northwestern, cures the disease, which started when she was 16 with some discomfort in her joints and has escalated to an excruciating pain.
"If we can turn this all around by this miracle ..." said her mother, Heidi Murray, an emergency room nurse at Mease Dunedin Hospital. "A lot of her problems will completely vanish. It's just opened up a whole new world of hope."
Meanwhile, a group of Mease Dunedin emergency room nurses are organizing a rummage sale at Our Lady of Lourdes Church. They are collecting stoves, hair dryers, radios, books and other items for the Dec. 6 sale.
"We just felt helpless," said Tami Gendreu, the organizer of the sale. "We all just sat around and thought what can we do for Emily? We thought the best thing for Emily was to make sure Heidi could be with her. When one person's not working, that impacts everything."
The nurses have donated work hours to Murray so she can stay up in Chicago with her daughter.
Even the Our Lady of Lourdes school, where Lane's brother is a student, is helping. The middle school is having a dance Dec. 4. Tickets are $2. All proceeds will go to Lane and her family.
"Our hearts have really been with the family," school principal Janice Metz said. "We felt compelled to get involved because we know Emily has been sick for a long time."
Murray has an apartment in Chicago near the hospital. She stays by her daughter's side, holding her hand while doctors poke and prod and run test after test. On Tuesday, it was a biopsy of the lung.
But Murray knows her daughter is making progress.
She considers it a miracle that Lane is even in Chicago. The idea of seeking treatment there came after one of Lane's doctors in Florida read an Oct. 12 Parade magazine article, "When the Body Attacks Itself." It discussed stem cell transplant, an experimental treatment. The magazine reported that Dr. Burt, who could not be reached for comment this week, has performed more stem cell transplants than anyone in the world.
If the transplant took place, Lane would first receive chemotherapy. The stem cells would come from her or a sibling, she said.
While the stem cell transplant is pending the outcome of the tests, Lane feels it is going to happen. It has renewed her dream of being a teacher. She may even be able to return to work in the after-school program at Lady of Lourdes.
She's scared at times. Optimistic at others. Her strength comes from the outpouring of support she has received from the ER nurses, her father Ken Lane, stepfather Tom Murray, the school and, of course, her mom.
"I really didn't know that many people cared about me," Lane said. "But it's definitely given me the strength to go on when I don't want to do it anymore. I'm not going to let this illness beat me. I'm going to beat it."
Our Lady of Lourdes Church will hold a fundraising rummage sale to benefit Emily Lane from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 6 at 750 San Salvador Drive, Dunedin. For more information or to donate items, contact Tami Gendreu at 733-3704.
