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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
 Developing StoryEx-Anchor Recovering From Mystery Malady Last night on WPVI-TV (Ch. 6), Lisa Thomas Laury (right) told how's been winning the fight against a rare, potentially fatal disease that forced her to leave her anchor job there in May 2004. "Because I got misdiagnosed so many times, this thing started to eat away at the nerves of my stomach, my voicebox. I had a paralyzed vocal cord, and that's the main reason I had to leave Channel Six," she told health reporter Anita Brikman. Thomas Laury finally got the right diagnosis at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota: syndrome named POEMS, an acronym formed from initials of major symptoms. See Mayo's list and more about the disease. Doctors extracted some of her bone marrow, froze it, gave her chemotherapy to destroy disease cells in her blood, then put the bone marrow back to restore production of healthy blood cells. About three months later, she says, "I knew I was getting better -- my voice came back." She still depends on leg braces, though. "I know the old Lisa is coming back. I tell people, I'm alive again! I feel like my old self, I'm beginning to look like my old self!" Thomas Laury said. "I'm feeling stronger and stronger and hoping to come back and join you guys." Tonight at 11, Channel 6 features a Thomas Laury interview with Oprah Winfrey. Read WPVI's full account, with a link to video of Brikman's report.
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