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One year ago, Jeff, 45, was diagnosed with a disease known as Diffuse Systemic Scleroderma. Systemic Scleroderma is a multi-system disease with numerous manifestations that can affect not only the skin, but also underlying blood vessels, muscles and joints, as well as the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, lungs and heart. The disease causes a loss of circulation that can result in painful skin ulcers occurring on fingers, toes and other extremities.

Joint pain caused by inflammation and swelling can be chronic. Loss of flexibility in the hands and severe skin tightening can impair the use of fingers and toes. The skin of the face may also tighten and harden - especially around the mouth - making eating and drinking difficult.

Jeff's wife, Sandra, said the past three years have been a tough road and that the proper diagnosis was evasive.

"He started having stomach trouble and was tired all the time," she said. "Then he started getting sores on his fingers. That went on for about two years before they finally diagnosed him."

According to the Sclerodema Research Foundation, Scleroderma is, in fact, not a single disease, but a set of related disorders involving a similar set of symptoms. This makes a concise definition - and diagnosis - difficult.

Pain, ranging in severity from uncomfortable to debilitating, is a common characteristic of the disease. Other symptoms can include, but are not limited to, the following: general fatigue, bone and joint aches, stiffness of the hands and feet, skin discoloration, swallowing difficulty and skin thickening/tightness.

Hundreds of thousands of people suffer from the various types of scleroderma and as many as 10,000 patients die every year from the most serious form of the disease. Nearly 80 percent of those afflicted with the disease are women, though scleroderma also strikes men and children across all ages and ethnic boundaries. Unfortunately, the disease typically strikes in the prime of patients' lives - when they are 30 to 50 years old.

The cause of scleroderma is unknown. It is not contagious and it is rare for direct family members to manifest the disease. Some scleroderma cases have been linked to environmental factors such as silica dust, organic solvents and certain drugs - though the cause for most cases of scleroderma is still not known.

Significant progress has been made in managing the symptoms and some of the most serious complications of scleroderma, so that people with the disease are living longer, fuller lives. Still, no therapies yet exist to halt or reverse the disease process. Patients continue to experience pain, deterioration and debilitation Ð and many patients die.

Although there is currently no known cure for the disease, some clinical trials which use stem-cell transplantation show promise. Scleroderma is a chronic autoimmune disease. In autoimmune diseases, a person's immune system attacks the body, resulting in inflammation of various organs or tissues.

The components of the immune system responsible for this effect are antibodies and cells. Antibodies are proteins produced by white blood cells, typically made in response to infection caused by pathogens like bacteria and viruses. In autoimmune diseases, like scleroderma, normal molecules of the body are mistakenly recognized by immune-system cells and antibodies and are targeted for destruction.

In preparation for the clinical trial procedure, a patient's stem cells are collected and cells that react against the patient's own tissue are removed.

Then, patients are treated with high-dose chemotherapy and drugs to suppress their immune system. After that, patients receive an infusion of the stem cells that were collected before treatment. These cells will rebuild a new, healthier immune system free of the self-reactive cells responsible for the autoimmune disease.

Preliminary results from such studies have been promising and Jeff Kleeman is betting his life on that promise. Jeff will travel to Ann Arbor in December to begin the preliminary testing needed to start the procedure.

"I know I'm a guinea pig,"Jeff said. "But I don't care, as long as they find a cure - just knock it out - so that no one has to ever get it again." Sandra is cautiously optimistic about the procedure.

"They told us there is only a 40 percent chance of surviving the treatment," she said. "We will just take one day at a time and try to have faith."

The Kleeman family is also going on faith that their bills will be met. After Jeff was diagnosed, they had to close their business in South Boardman, J&S Outdoor - an irrigation and lawn care company. Sandra works at Northland in Kingsley; but their income does not cover the bills.

"I don't know how it happens, but we manage each month," she said. "We have to pay $1,000 of medical costs each month before our insurance kicks in. We pay $500 a month, just in medications for Jeff. It makes it really hard, but we do it."

The Kleemans struggles don't go unnoticed by the community.

"We've received support from our church and friends and so many have turned out for this benefit dinner," Sandra said. "We really want to thank the community for helping us out and being there when we really needed it."

Kleeman's 13-year-old son, Corey, an eighth grader at Forest Area Middle School, tries to remain optimistic and looks at the positive side of things.

"It's been hard on the family and me, learning your dad has got a disease, but it also helps to strengthen you," he said. "It teaches you lessons about how you shouldn't worry and stress over things. When I start to worry about things, I just give it to God and let Him take that big backpack of stress off of me."

Those who wish to offer their support to the Kleeman family can contact Sandra at 231-369-4220 or her sister Arlene Long at 231-258-5854.