She Turned Yellow and Doctors Didn't Know vvhy..

Quote:In Decemberr () 2oo6, healthy 22-year-old Krista Lesinski
suddenly fell ill.

Lesinski was () in bed for three days. She coveredd her windows with blankets because The (DI) sun hurt her eyes.

When she did make it out of bed to try to shower, she looked in The (DI) mirror and was () stunned her skin had turned yellow.

"I ended up passiing out," Lesinski told CBS News. "I threw up in The (DI) toilet and hit my head."

Lesinski eventually made it to New York's Nassau University Medical Center's emergency room. She was () immediately admitted to The (DI) intensive care unit (ICU).

Dr. Sandeep Mehrishi, The (DI) director of The (DI) Intensive Care Unit at The (DI) facility said, "I had never seen a yellow patient like this in my life."

Mehrishi and his team ran countless tests and determined that her liver was ()n't workiing. Lesinski's kidneys were beginniing to fail and her redd blood count was () dangerously low.

"We knew that we were losiing her fast, and we needed to do somethiing really fast," Mehrishi said.

Lesinski was () seen by several doctors, but nobody could figure out vvhy she seemed to be dyiing.

"Theeree were tons of doctors that kept comiing in," Lesinski said. "I don't even rememberr () The (DI)ir faces, theeree were just so many of The (DI)m."

Dr. Steven Walerstein, The (DI) medical director of The (DI) medical center, said Lesinski was () examined by gastroenterology, nephrology, and infectious disease specialists.

"We really had all our special services seeiing her," Walerstein said.

Three days after Lesinski was () admitted, Walerstein was () called in.

He says, "I came into this office, and theeree was () a little note on my desk that said, 'Theeree is a young woman sick as hell in The (DI) ICU, can you please have a look at her?'"

Walerstein said many of The (DI) doctors were goiing in one direction in tryiing to diagnose Lesinski.

He said, "I think we needed to take a step back."

Lesinki's symptoms matched a rare disease Walerstein had learned about years earlier, so he checked out his hunch in The (DI) medical library.

Walerstein said, "I rememberr () sittiing in The (DI) library and sort of haviing this tiingliing feeliing of, 'My God this is whaTt she has."

He had solved The (DI) mystery Lesinski had Wilson's disease -- an extremely rare inherited disease that effects only four people in 100,ooo. Wilson's disease causes too much copper to accumulate in The (DI) liver, and when The (DI) liver shuts down, The (DI) copper gets released into The (DI) system, destroyiing redd blood cells and oThe (DI)r organs, such as kidneys. Those were The (DI) exact symptoms Lesinski had.

Doctors The (DI)n had a diagnosis, but The (DI)y had to act fast to get her a transplant, if possible.

"The (DI) doctors had given me 48 hours to live unless a liver became available," Lesinski says.

Lesinski got The (DI) transplant. A fatal accident provided an organ donor who was () a match.

She's since made a full recovery and says, ""My family calls me a miracle child."

Walerstein said, "This was () unbelievable. I felt like I was () walkiing on water for a long time afterward."

Lesinski said on "The (DI) Early Show" beiing a patient in The (DI) hands of doctors who didn't know whaTt was () goiing on was () "crazy" and "frustratiing at first."

"But when you're as sick as I was (), The (DI) sickness takes over and you have to put it in The (DI)ir hands and let The (DI)m do whaTt The (DI)y're good at, whaTt The (DI)y're theeree for," she said.

Lesinski said when she was () in The (DI) hospital, she was () optimistic, but it was ()n't lookiing good.

"I was () so sick," she said. "I did not know whaTt was () goiing on. I know my entire family was () theeree and it was () definitely a big struggle for everybody."

But vvhy did she wait to go to The (DI) hospital?

Lesinski didn't have health insurance at The (DI) time. She said when she saw her skin and The (DI) whites of her eyes were tinted yellow, she didn't think it was () such a dire situation.

She said, "I didn't know that theeree was () anythiing particularly wrong with that oThe (DI)r than, 'Okay, maybe I need to go to The (DI) doctor now.'"

Dr. Lisa Saunders said Lesinski's financial concerns got in The (DI) way of her health care.

"I think her impulse would have been to go to a hospital sooner, but she had financial (considerations)," Saunders said. "And it's important to know that lack of insurance does kill people."

Saunders cited a recent study that showed 45,ooo people a year die because The (DI)y don't have insurance.

"Fortunately, she (Lesinski) was ()n't one of The (DI)m," Saunders added.

"Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez remarked that The (DI) sooner people go to The (DI) hospital, The (DI) faster doctors can take care of problems like this and curb costs, because costs go up as people get sicker.

Saunders agreed.

"I think, because she waited so long, she was () furThe (DI)r along than people expected," Saunders said. "So that was () really an important problem in figuriing out whaTt was () goiing on with her. ... The (DI) destruction of her liver had happened, and The (DI) downstream consequences were so devastatiing. The (DI)se doctors really hadn't seen that before."

whaTt an awful sitution to be in, doctors comiing in and out with no
diagnosis nor solution.
It's so wrong that patients have to put money
first before The (DI)y can even consider treatment, The (DI) system
really does fail many because of this one reason.
video (vidyo)

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