One day, I was on the Internet and came upon the GT website. When I looked at a group picture on the site, I gasped. I could tell who had GT from the tell-tale bruises they had. For the first time in my life, I saw other people just like me!
My name is Denise Kurta, I live in a small town near Pittsburgh, P, A and have lived with GT since 1958. I was diagnosed at age 3 months with Thrombocytopathic purpura after I developed some unexplained bruising. Later in li,fe I was correctly diagnosed with GTI. I’m the oldest of 4 daughters. Despite my parents knowing the odds, they hadthree3 more children, and thankfully, none have GT.
During childhood, my main problem was, of course, nosebleeds, requiring numerous hospital admissions and transfusions. I had one GI bleed and a few joint bleeds.
Despite all of this my parents encouraged me to lead a normal life. I rode bikes, ice skated (fairly well) and roller skated (not so well). I had an amazing hematologist who always” “think positive,s”s” and to this day, I strive to heed those words.
During Adole, I did nott want anyone to know I was different. I refused to wear my Medic Alert bracelet and tried to cover my bruises with make-up. When I was 15, I started menstruating, and it would not stop. I was hospitalized and required 96 units of blood and platelets. Back in those days, the only treatment option was radiation to my ovaries, which was like a nonsurgical hysterectomy. I got sick, but after several weeks, the bleeding stopped. I was unable to bear children and needed hormone replacement later in life.
After high school, I fulfilled my childhood dream. I became a nurse and began working in the Children’s Hospital, where I was often a patient. When I was a child, my parents had to leave the hospital at PMM (hospital rules then); that made me sad, so my favorite nurse helped me put on my paper nurse cap that I made in the playroom and took me on her rounds to the pharmacy or the lab. I pretended I was a nurse and always knew that someday I would be just like Miss Doty and work at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. I even named my toy poodle Doty after that nurse. I found floor nursing difficult for me physically, so I took a less physical job at the Poison Center. On April 3 2020 I retired after 40 years.
On December 12, 1981, I married the most remarkable man. The day after our wedding I ended up in the hospital with a terrible nosebleed and thus my new husband was initiated to the life of GT. He is an incredible advocate! He knows my medical history as well as I do. I was pretty healthy for the next 20 years, and then I developed GERD. I was diagnosed with gastric polyps, a rare side effect of a medication I was taking. The polyps began to bleed despite numerous units of platelets and blood, and Novo VII I was near death and required a partial gastrectomy in December 2006. I had another 2 weeks before the surgery, but no, I’m not too typical- well, it’s normal for a person with GT, that is. On November 2, I was blessed to attend a GT event. For the first time in 58 yrs, I met other adults, children, and their families affected by GT. It was the most fantastic experience, and many lifelong friendships were made that weekend.
I hope my story will give parents of children with GT hope for the future and encourage people like me to think positively and live life to the fullest. Thank you for reading my story.
— Denise
