Kaitlin Vasilich was a 17-year-old senior at South Allegheny High School in Liberty Boro, PA. Since the age of 5, physicians and psychologists examined Kaitlin in order to find a cause for her inability to digest foods. By the age of 9, the symptoms had become more frequent and severe. After several years and countless visits to various doctors, in January of 2003, she was diagnosed by doctors from Columbia University with mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalomyopathy (MNGIE).
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Mitochondrial diseases result from failures of the mitochondria, specialized compartments present in almost every cell in the body. They are responsible for creating more than 90 percent of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support growth. The mitochondria are composed of tiny packages of enzymes that speed chemical reactions. These enzymes play an essential role in turning nutrients into energy. Defects in any of the enzymes could cause a mitochondrial disease. When mitochondria fail, less and less energy is generated within the cell. When this happens, cell injury and even cell death follow. If this process is repeated on a large scale throughout the body, whole systems begin to fail, and the life of the person in whom this is happening is compromised, changed or even ended.
In Kaitlin’s case, her intestines were essentially paralyzed and the nerves to her legs and feet were impaired. She required her family’s aid to accomplish many of the daily tasks that we take for granted. Kaitlin spent large amounts of time in the hospital due to infections and on February 8, 2004 she lost her battle to this disease. Currently there is no treatment to relieve symptoms and no cure for this disorder.
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