You are an inspiration to us all Coleen Smith!
The DePaul volleyball player was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease called Wegener’s Granulomatosis. After being told she would never return to volleyball, Coleen stayed strong and fought off the diseases.
What is Wegener’s Granulomatosis?
Per Wikipedia:
Wegener’s granulomatosis (WG), now officially known as granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), is a form of vasculitis (inflammation of blood vessels) that affects small- and medium-size vessels in many organs. Damage to the lungs and kidneys can be fatal. It requires long-term immunosuppression. Five-year survival is up to 87%, with some of the mortality due to toxicity of treatment. It is named after Friedrich Wegener, who described the disease in 1936. Because of Wegener’s Nazi past, professional bodies and journals have replaced his name with a descriptive name.
Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener’s) is part of a larger group of vasculitic syndromes, all of which feature an autoimmune attack by an abnormal type of circulating antibody termed ANCAs (antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies) against small and medium-size blood vessels. Apart from Wegener’s, this category includes Churg–Strauss syndrome and microscopic polyangiitis.[1] Although Wegener’s granulomatosis affects small- and medium-size vessels, it is formally classified as one of the small vessel vasculitides in the Chapel Hill system.
Symptoms:
Kidney: rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (75%), leading to chronic renal failure
Upper airway, eye and ear disease:
Nose: pain, stuffiness, nosebleeds, rhinitis, crusting, saddle-nose deformity due to a perforated septum
Ears: conductive hearing loss due to auditory tube dysfunction, sensorineural hearing loss (unclear mechanism)
Oral cavity: strawberry gingivitis, underlying bone destruction with loosening of teeth, non-specific ulcerations throughout oral mucosa
Eyes: pseudotumours, scleritis, conjunctivitis, uveitis, episcleritis
Trachea: subglottal stenosis
Lungs: pulmonary nodules (referred to as “coin lesions”), infiltrates (often interpreted as pneumonia), cavitary lesions, pulmonary hemorrhage causing hemoptysis, and rarely bronchial stenosis.
Arthritis: Pain or swelling (60%), often initially diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis
Skin: nodules on the elbow, purpura, various others (see cutaneous vasculitis)
Nervous system: occasionally sensory neuropathy (10%) and rarely mononeuritis multiplex
Heart, gastrointestinal tract, brain, other organs: rarely affected.
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