Maria Voytko (left) stands with her sister Kathy Moceyunas, who was also her bone-marrow donor, at Maria's graduation from Marywood University in May 2003.

Maria Voytko didn't major in science in college. But scientific research is something she finds as important as any laboratory investigator does-because it saved her life.

Maria's life-changing biology lesson began when she was 16 years old, during a family beach vacation the summer before her senior year in high school. Sitting out on the sand one day, she told her mother that she didn't feel quite right.

"I was unbearably hot in the sun, even though the temperature outside wasn't that high," she recalled of that day in 1995. "And when I went into the shade, I was freezing."

That evening, Maria developed a severe headache. When a local physician was unable to identify the cause of her symptoms, the Voytkos drove back to their hometown near Scranton, Pa., where Maria's mother promptly took her to her to see their family doctor. A blood test revealed a wholly unexpected diagnosis: a life-threatening cancer called acute myeloid leukemia.

"You think you are invincible at that age — that nothing could ever really happen to yourself or to your friends," she said.

Maria began chemotherapy, but the treatment wasn't successful. Her local oncologist told her that a bone-marrow transplant was her only hope for a cure. The best place to have the transplant, he said, was clear across the country in Seattle, at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

"It was 3,000 miles away — and I'd have to stay there for several months, but we decided that based on what we learned about the Hutch, that was what we had to do," she said.

In order to undergo the transplant, Maria would need a marrow donor of identical tissue type who could provide healthy cells that would replace her own cancerous blood. As the youngest of 7 children, her odds of having a tissue-matched sibling were good.

"I was very fortunate — I had six siblings who were tested, and two of them were perfect matches," she said. One was her brother, Steve, who was away at college. The other, her sister Kathy, had recently graduated from college and lived nearby. She was chosen to be Maria's marrow donor.

Initial tests by Hutchinson Center doctors found that Maria qualified for an experimental treatment that used antibodies — proteins made by the immune system — to deliver radiation directly to Maria's cancer cells, sparing the rest of her body from side effects caused by the potent rays. Then, on Dec. 5, 1995, she received a transplant of her sister Kathy's bone marrow, a technique also pioneered at the Hutchinson Center.

"Kathy and I were always very close," Maria said. "But now we're really connected."

After the procedure, Maria spent 46 more days in the hospital regaining her strength. She and her mother remained in Seattle for another two months, during what would have been Maria's senior year of high school. She was able to complete her high school coursework through the Hutch School and graduate from high school on time with her classmates at North Pocono High School.

"I had such great faith in my doctors, even though I was going through an experimental procedure," she said. "I realize now that my participation in that research also helped people who developed leukemia after I became sick."

In July 1998, Maria returned to Seattle for her annual checkup and received a clean bill of health.

"But once you leave, you are not forgotten," she said. "I love receiving anniversary letters congratulating me on my good health, although I should be the one congratulating them."

In recent years, Maria has had some health problems related to her cancer treatment. In 2000 and 2001, Maria underwent knee-replacement surgeries for both of her knees, which had begun to deteriorate because of the high-dose therapy she received as a teenager. The procedure involved transplants from human cadaver bones.

"For my first knee replacement, doctors had to put screws in my knee," she said. "But by the time of my second knee replacement, technology had advanced even further and was done without screws. Once again, it was the power of research that made those advances possible."

Today, still cancer-free, Maria is working toward her master's degree in educational technology and serves as a volunteer for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, through which she has made connections with fellow survivors. She also speaks to high school students about the importance of organ transplantation, since the process has had such a direct impact on her own health and quality of life.

Although Maria's chosen teaching field is the social sciences, her respect for biomedical research has not diminished with time. "It was clear to me that the Hutchinson Center was on the cutting edge of research," she said. "That's what saved my life."

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