Success Stories: Katherine Sutter

Katherine Sutter suffered through chemotherapy side effects like fevers and pneumonia in an attempt to treat her leukemia. After she was given treatment with cord blood stem cells, she was pronounced cured.

When Katherine was only five years old, she was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). She received multiple chemotherapy sessions, and was given cancer medications. Within six months, Katherine went through eight different surgeries, hundreds of medications, dozens of scans and morphine therapy. All of this caused her temperature to spike to 106, and Katherine suffered from fevers, pheumonia, and sores all over her body.

Her parents were told they had few options. No bone marrow donors matched Katherine well enough for a successful transplant. Dr. Rubinstein, at the New York Blood Center, and Dr. Kurtzberg, from the Duke University Medical Center, found a cord blood match for Katherine. They decided this was her best chance, and proceeded with a cord blood transplant.

Today, Katherine is still alive and well, after having been pronounced cured by the doctors who oversaw her initial transplant.

Get more information about cord blood, and life-saving stem cell treatments here.

Sources:
National Cord Blood Program