Windsurfer and former world champion Lee Korzic revealed in an emotional Facebook post on Monday that she has suffered from a blood disease since the age of 15 and was recently informed that her illness has worsened and will need a bone marrow transplant.
The disease from which Korzic has suffered for years is a rare blood disease called polycythemia vera (PV), which has a prevalence of about 5 cases per 100,40 and every year 50-62 new patients are diagnosed in Israel. The average age of diagnosis is 10 and only 40% of patients diagnosed, like Korzyc, under the age of <>.
"It's a blood disease, a bone marrow disease, the 'factory' for producing blood cells. The disease causes an increase in the production of blood cells, mainly red but also blood cells and platelets," explains Prof. Alice Martin, Chairman of the Israeli Society of Hematology, Director of the Blood Bank and a senior hematologist at Meir Medical Center of the Clalit Group.
Korzic in her great days. Slowly recovering, photo: Ben Finkelstein
Prof. Martin explains how the disease is caused and how it can be diagnosed. "The disease is caused by a mutation in a gene called JAK2 that is responsible for regulating blood cell production." When there is a malfunction, the body produces many more blood cells and the consequence of this is a tendency to excessive blood clotting as well as complications such as stroke, venous thrombosis, or a cardiac event. The disease can be diagnosed in blood tests when an increase in blood counts is seen and later a genetic test is performed to identify the mutation. Then a specialist in hematology enters the picture and takes a sample from the bone marrow through which it is possible to identify characteristic changes that there are in the bone marrow tissue.
"50% of patients have no symptoms and the disease is only diagnosed from blood count results. Other patients will be diagnosed for thrombosis, stroke or hyperviscosity symptoms of the blood such as headache, visual disturbances, tinnitus in the ears that does not go away, or redness in the eyes or skin."
Prof. Alice Martin. "This is very rare and requires intensive treatments", Photo: Rami Zaranger
World Champions: Lee Korzic and Maayan Davidovich celebrate
The routine treatment is lowering the hemoglobin level in the blood by bloodletting (as in the act of donating blood) as an occasional maintenance treatment alongside taking aspirin, which prevents clotting. "At certain stages, they switch to pills or injections to stop the overactivity of bone marrow. For example, interferon therapy, which is considered very effective. Symptoms usually improve considerably and you can lead a completely normal lifestyle, including strenuous activity of any kind," explains Prof. Martin.
But sometimes, as happened with Korzyc, years and sometimes even decades later, the disease changes its character and turns into leukemia - blood cancer. "One change is scarring, the appearance of scarring in the bone marrow. A process called myelo fibrosis. At this stage, blood counts become low and then more intensive treatments are thought of that could be a cure for the disease by bone marrow transplantation. A long-standing disease can turn in rarer cases into acute leukemia. This is very rare and requires intensive treatments, including bone marrow transplantation."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us