Here comes the thunder

"Other kids that live with their grandparents are able to help a lot more. One of my main chores is getting (fire)wood and it takes me maybe 15-30 minutes and, afterwards, I'll be in so much pain and just being able to help her has been a lot harder than it should be, at my age." 

For many people, life presents challenges at different times in their life. When it comes to 17-year-old Katie Russell, those challenges have been present since the fourth grade and continue today with two different chronic illnesses. Katie, who lives with her grandmother, Beverly "Bev" Russell, was diagnosed with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) when she was in the fourth grade. 

"Basically, what it did was it attacked my blood platelets and, instead of finding foreign things, like a virus, it would attack the platelets, instead," said Katie. "Usually your count's supposed to be around 150-160,000. Mine were at 2,000 at the time."

Due to the low number of blood platelets, a common sign of ITP is easy bruising, which was something that Katie struggled with. 

"I'll tell you, it was hard. At first, not knowing what we were dealing (with) and she wound up with, I'll bet you, 50 different sizes of bruises on her body. It looked like I had been beating her arms, her legs," said Bev.

Katie and Bev went to see Jennifer Oiler, who was a nurse practitioner at Platte Valley Medical Clinic under Dean Bartholomew. Oiler performed blood work on Katie and informed both her and her grandmother she suspected ITP. A second opinion from Bartholomew confirmed the suspicion.

"They said if we had waited one more day before we went to the doctor's office, I probably would have died before we got there," Katie said.

Following the appointment at Platte Valley Medical Clinic, the grandmother and granddaughter rushed to the children's hospital in Denver with the hope of finding answers. Spending their Thanksgiving in the hospital, Bev said they never saw the same doctor twice and were no closer to finding answers by the time they returned home. When the first blood test was done, Katie's platelet level was at 2,000. When they returned, it had dropped to 1,700.

"So, they got ahold of the pediatrician hematologist at St. Luke's Children Hospital and we went down there and we finally started getting answers," Bev said.

Answers were one thing. A treatment was another. For three years Katie tried six different treatments in an attempt to keep her blood platelet levels from dropping.

"At first they had me on prednisone, to see if it would stay, but it wouldn't," said Katie.

It wasn't until the third year, 2012, that a treatment was found via a chemo supplement that held her platelet level stable. During this time, Katie would miss two days a week in school as she and her grandmother traveled to the cancer treatment center in Casper for treatments that lasted up to eight hours.

"She was scared to death because, when we went into the cancer center in Casper, there's all older people being treated and they more or less look at her and, after a few treatments, they would cry when they seen her have to go through that," said Bev. "Some of them bought her stuffed animals and blankets."

Finally, in 2013, Katie's platelet level stabilized. She was informed that, as long as her platelets stayed at 75,000, she could play sports. So, Katie went out for volleyball and basketball. Unfortunately, she couldn't play sports for long.

While her ITP had been treated, Katie was then diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus. Also known as SLE, lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes the body's immune system to attack its own tissues.

"There's actually three different kinds of lupus. One that attacks your organs, one that attacks your skin and one that attacks your joints and I have two of the three. I have the one that attacks my joints and my skin. So, basically, if I have a flare up, it makes all my joints swell. My knees, ankles, elbows, fingers and it's a chronic pain you can't really do anything about," Katie said. "Pain meds don't help."

Eventually, due to lupus, Katie stopped doing basketball. During the 2018/2019 Encampment Volleyball season, Katie sat out games due to flare-ups that increased the amount of pain she dealt with on a regular basis.

"It's basically constant pain, but, like, the flare ups is I'll get a rash really bad and I'll start losing feeling in joints and they'll start hurting," said Katie.

As Katie continues to battle with her chronic illness, and she helps her grandmother, her education has suffered. While she began last school year in Encampment, she transferred to Saratoga Middle High School, but eventually dropped out. Despite the lupus, Katie works to keep providing income for the household.

"I worked all last summer, but I had one really bad flare-up where I had a full body rash and it hurt to walk because of that rash and I missed a couple of days of work," Katie said. "When it would get busy, it would get really hard on me."

This summer, Katie is working as a housekeeper at the Old Baldy Club. While she is doing her best to provide for herself and her grandmother, she isn't alone. Last year, the T-Bone Classic Benefit Poker Run, which has traditionally been held in Hanna, made the decision to relocate to Saratoga and hold "Katie's Thunder Run."

Along with the financial aid that the Thunder Run will be providing, Katie is hoping that this will also raise awareness about lupus.

"You look fine from the outside, but you're really not and it's just something you really cannot control at all. You'll be fine one day and, then, the next, my hands will swell up. Sometimes, getting out of bed is harder than other days. It also affects depression and anxiety, which I was also diagnosed with way before I was diagnosed with lupus," said Katie. "It's just really hard for me to try to explain to people what actually goes on and them actually believe it."

The 9th Annual T-Bone Classic Benefit Poker Run will begin at 9 a.m. on July 20 at the Whistle Pig Saloon, south of Saratoga.