Stem Cell Transplant Help Katie Pyles

Thanks to the miracle of modern medical technology, Katie Pyles has a new lease on life. However, getting that new lease meant almost knocking on death's door.
Pyles, a 66-year-old mother of three who lives in the edge of Taylor County not too far from the Knifley community, recently underwent the arduous process of having stem cells extracted from her body then re-introduced to help her overcome the cancer, non- Hodgkins lymphoma B-cell, that had invaded her body.
Pyles is now at home recuperating from the procedure, and while she is doing well, it will still be many months before she will be able to return to a normal lifestyle.
Pyles' battle with cancer began in December 2005. She became ill, and after rounds of testing, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a cancer of the blood related to leukemia and multiple myloma.
She took six rounds of chemotherapy - one a month - first at T.J. Samson Hospital in Glasgow and then at the Brown Cancer Center at Taylor County Hospital.
Following the six chemo treatments, Pyles' cancer went into remission, and she remained cancer free for almost two years.
"They told me if it stayed gone for two years, it would be gone for good," she recalled in an interview at her home last week. "But, 23 months later, it came back.
"It was really sad," she continued. "You go for almost two years thinking you've got this thing licked, then go in for a CT scan and find it's come back."
Over the next few months, Pyles' doctors ran numerous tests as they tried to determine what method of treatment would work the best for her and give her the best chance for survival. It was decided that the stem cell route was the one to take.
Due to some other health issues, it wasn't until November of last year that Pyles was finally able to go to the Brown Cancer Center in Louisville, where she underwent numerous tests to determine if she was a viable candidate for the stem cell procedure.
Her doctors determined that she was a viable candidate, and she soon began what ended up being an almost eight-month ordeal.
"In January, I started taking radiation and chemo treatments at Taylor County Hospital," she explained. "I'd check into the hospital and stay several days while they gave me very strong treatments. Then, I'd come home for a week or so, then go back into the hospital and do it again."
During this period of time, Pyles was very weak and unable to care for herself. Her sons, Marshall and Thomas Sneed, and grandson Ryan Sneed would stay with her, or her daughter, Teresa Shepherd-Hill would drive from her home in Georgia to help out.
In April, Pyles went back to Brown Cancer Center in Louisville, first for an educational session then for a meeting with a psychiatrist. Two weeks later, she began taking growth factor shots to help increase her stem cell count. She received these shots over a four-day period at Taylor County Hospital.
Then, it was back to Louisville, where the doctors put in a central line and started the apheresis, or the harvest of her stem cells.
"It was kind of like dialysis," she explained. "The blood was drawn out from the heart area, went through some machines where the stem cells were separated and collected, then put back into my body."
It took the doctors five days to collect enough stem cells. The process was an outpatient procedure, so Pyles stayed at a nearby hospitality house while not hooked up to the machines in the hospital.
Pyles then came back home for a period of about six weeks to rest and recover, then returned to Louisville on June 21, where doctors did a PET scan, CT scan and an echocardiogram before returning home.
Three weeks later she was admitted to the hospital in Louisville, and a central line put back in. Then, she began receiving radiation treatments two times a day for four straight days.
"It was a total body irradiation," her daughter Teresa explained. "They essentially zapped her immune system."
Pyles then received two more growth factor shots (the shots, which were much more powerful than the previous growth factors shots, cost $16,000 each). This was followed by one four-hour chemo treatment.
Two days after the chemo treatment, doctors began the process of putting her stem cells that had been harvested back into her body.
After the process was completed, Pyles had to stay in the hospital for 35 days as she recovered from the ordeal. During most of the stay, she was in isolation while her immune system recovered, and she underwent some pretty hard times.
"It was touch and go there for a while," her son Marshall noted. "She had to have several units of blood and platelets."
Finally, on Aug. 18th, her daughter Teresa, who had came up from Georgia and stayed for the entire process, was able to bring her home to Taylor County.
"It's never felt as good to be home as it was when I came through my front door that day," Pyles noted.
And while she's at home, Pyles must still make constant trips back to the Brown Cancer Center in Louisville.
"I have to go back every three days so they can check on my red blood cell count, white cell count and my blood pressure," she explained, noting that the procedure resulted in her blood pressure becoming elevated.
Pyles' first trips back to Louisville have proven to be good ones. While doctors are still working out medication levels for her blood pressure, she hasn't had to have any blood transfusions.
"Right now, my biggest problem is fatigue," she said. "I'm not able to do very much at all, and spend the majority of the time laying down, but I can feel myself getting stronger every day."
Pyles said that the doctors have told her that it could take four months to a year before she fully recovers, but that's okay with her.
I don't know exactly why, but I feel like a different person now," she noted.
"The doctors said that there's no 100 percent guarantee that my cancer won't come back some day," she continued. "So I'm just taking it one day at a time. I've got a new lease on life, and I'm thankful for it."
Pyles and her family said that they want to express their sincere appreciation for all the prayers offered on her behalf during her ordeal. "There's definitely been a lot of them," she noted. Photo: KATIE PYLES relaxes at her home with her son, Marshall Sneed, and daughter, Teresa Shepherd-Hill, after being released from the hospital following her stem cell procedure to rid her body of cancer. (Photo by Paul B. Hayes)