Memory Book

We're putting together a memory book for Alan's family. Family and friends (if you haven't yet), please send a favorite memory of Alan to katespjute@gmail.com. Thank you! And thank you for all the love and support you've been showing to the Spjute family.

Blood Drive

The blood drive will still be held tomorrow, August 13, from 9am-1pm on the corner of Peach and Nees, NOT peach and Herndon. Come get your coupon for a free pint of Baskin Robbins ice cream. We are so grateful that blood was available for Alan, and we would like to replenish that supply so other families can have one more day with the ones they love.

Thanks so much for your love and support. Your prayers of peace and comfort have been felt.

Obituary

Alan Harmon Spjute passed away August 4, 2011 surrounded by his family after a sudden illness. Alan was born the youngest of six children on July 25, 1992 in Fresno to Kent and Linda Spjute. From early on his sensitive, sweet, and playful spirit was evident. He was an active member of Boy Scout Troop 110 where he enjoyed backpacking and hiking. Alan was the first of the Spjute family to hike to the peak of Mt. Whitney, capping a six day sixty mile backpacking trip. He graduated from Buchanan High School in 2010 where he excelled academically. Throughout high school, Alan participated in marching band and jazz band. His jazz band performed twice on the main stage of the annual Monterey Jazz Festival, including a solo performance showcasing Alan’s talent on the trumpet. Alan also experienced success with Science Olympiad and Odyssey of the Mind, regularly placing in competitions where he was able to use his inventiveness and natural intelligence, such as creating catapults and self-propelled cars. Alan continued to pursue his affinity for math and the sciences at California Polytechnic State College where he completed his freshman year in engineering.

Alan was an avid reader, especially enjoying science fiction and fantasy novels. Some of his favorite series included Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and The Shannara Series. Alan also enjoyed games with family and friends; in particular, he could spend hours playing strategy board games like Epic Duels, Risk, and Axis and Allies. He was thus appropriately voted “Most Likely to Take Over the World” by his fellow high school band members.

Of all Alan’s accomplishments, however, his greatest was what he contributed to his family and many friends. His contagious laugh and affable spirit always lifted the room. His keen awareness of others’ feelings made anyone feel comfortable, included, and special. Alan had a loving and generous heart, as his family and friends experienced first hand. His example in life encourages us all to be more generous, more devoted, and more Christlike.

Alan Harmon Spjute is survived by his mother, his father, his stepmother Dale Spjute, his siblings, Aaron Spjute, Alex Spjute, Adrienne Elder, Adam Spjute, and Ashley Relitz, as well as his grandparents Edwin and Jacqueline Spjute.

He will be missed beyond measure but will ever remain in our hearts.

Update 8/4/11 @ 1:24PM

Alan passed away peacefully around 12:15AM. There will be an open viewing at Farewell Funeral (660 W Locust Ave # 101‎ CA‎ 93650) Home on Monday, August 8 from 5:00PM-8:00PM. The funeral service will be on Tueaday, August 9 at 11:00AM at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Peach south of Herndon (220 North Peach Avenue Clovis‎ CA‎ 93612). There will be a short viewing from 10:00AM-10:45AM before the service.

We are all very saddened by the loss of such a great friend, brother and son, and yet grateful for the overwhelming support, thoughts and prayers from all of his friends. For those wishing to send flowers, please send them to the Farewell Funeral home. We encourage everyone that can to donate blood in Alan's behalf either at the blood drive or at their local blood bank. Thank you again for all of your support.

Update 8/2/11 @ 11:08

Alan still remains on high pressure (PEEP of 16) and high oxygen (100%) on the respirator. The nurse told us this evening that the swelling he has is a normal side effect from the high pressure he is receiving from the respirator. It is called subcutaneous emphysema (Click here for more information) which is basically air under the skin. He said that as soon as they decrease the air pressure from 16 it should go away in 4-6 hours time. Alan remains off of the paralytic now. The charge nurses have seen the importance of maintaining the continuity of care with Alan, thus he will have the same nurses he has had before from here on out.

Update 8/2/11 @ 8:15PM

Alan is still at 100% oxygen support with oxygenation at 93-94. The PEEPs is at 16. He is off the paralytic and blood pressure is around 88. He is still very swollen (with air) and the hope is that it will go down through the night.

Update 8/2/11 @ 2:20PM

The bronchoscopy showed no bleeding/clots and very little fluid. They are trying to wean him off the paralytic and still keep him sedated so that he will be calm. The bedsore looks good and is not a large, open wound like before. His oxygen support is at 100 with oxygenation at 92. He is extremely swollen in the upper torso due to the air leak in the space around his lungs, but this is expected to take care of itself. His nurse, Ashlee, is working to balance all of his meds so he can start to make progress.

Update 8/2/11 @ 11:20AM

Just had a lengthy talk with the team of doctors. Alan is worse. His body is in shock due to fluid imbalance. His lungs have too much fluid. They are going to do a bronchoscopy to take out fluid. They will continue the plasma exchange every other day. The team of doctors all felt that Alan was worse compared to 5 days ago. I'll keep you posted.

Update 8/2/11 @ 9.56AM

He had a bit of a rough day yesterday afternoon, but today he is stable with oxygen support at 80% with blood oxygenation at 93. He's back on blood pressure medications and he was given 5 units of blood last night.

Update 8/1/11 @ 1:20PM

Today has been a great day! They have decreased Alan's oxygen to 60% and he has been able to maintain his saturation levels in the 90s. They have also turned down the air pressure on Alan's respirator (the PEEP or positive end-expiratory pressure is now at 12). They also have not needed to give him any blood, which is good too. When talking with the Intensivists this morning they said that they have seen small improvements with Alan. They mention the fact that he is still here with us which is a good sign and that there must be a greater power helping him get better apart from what they have been doing at the hospital. They also said that they are 80% certain that he does have Wegener's. He is getting another plasmapheresis treatment today and tomorrow they will be able to run another diagnostic test to see if these treatments are helping. They are going to take him off of the paralytic medication as well. Overall, the outlook today has been very positive, although he will probably remain in the hospital for months and in the ICU for weeks.

Update 7/31/11 @ 12:13PM

Alan's O2 has been lowered to 70% and is doing well. They have also increased his feedings (NG feedings) from 10 to 20. The perfusionist said that his left lung looks a little better.

Update 7/31/11 @ 9:31AM

Alan remains critically stable with no changes from yesterday afternoon.

Update 7/30/11 @ 3:21PM

The doctor came and put another chest tube in Alan's right chest to help with some of the pressure that was building from the small leak in his right lung. The doctor is not very concerned about the leak. They finished the plasmapheresis treatment without any complications again. They have also decreased his oxygen to 80%. Since they are having a harder time keeping Alan sedated they have given him a paralytic so he will not fight the respirator and will be able to rest better.

Update 7/30/11 @ 2:37AM

They have taken Alan off of his blood pressure medication. They had to increase his oxygen back to 90%. Other than that, there has not been much change.

Update 7/29/11 @ 4:57PM

Alan continues to be at a critically stable state. After the nurse who runs the plasmapheresis machine talked with the Alan's doctors, they decided to change the frequency of plasmapheresis. This way, the chemotherapy drug they are giving him will be in his system longer since the plasmapheresis removes some of the medications in the filtering process. They increased his oxygen back to 70% and have been having good oxygen saturation levels. Alan has developed a small leak in his right lung. The doctor said that there is nothing they can do about it now; however, the nurse checked his arterial blood gas (ABG) levels and the nurse said they were good. The nurse also indicated that they still hear lung sounds in his right lung in his upper lobe and a little in his lower lobe.

Blood Drive Update: There will be a blood drive held on Saturday, August 13. It will be at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Peach (220 N Peach in Clovis), just south of Herndon (Click here for a map) We will provide more details about the time when we find out. Thank you so much to all of those who have already donated.

Update 7/29/11 @ 1:25AM

The plasmapheresis machine and nurse came down from San Francisco and they started the treatment soon afterwards. They had just finished the first plasmapheresis treatment without any problems. The oncology nurse came afterwards with the Rituximab. It is a medication that will be given once a week for four weeks. She will be checking Alan every 20 minutes to make sure he does not have an adverse reaction to the medication. Since they started the medication at about 10:30PM, Alan has not had any adverse reaction. Also, they have decreased his respirator oxygen from 70% to 60% while maintaining good saturation levels. They will finish administering the medication by 3:00AM. His vital signs are good. The bleeding in his chest is minimal to none. They say that it should take a few days before we see any positive effects with the medication.

Update 7/28/11 @ 11:05 AM

Alan had a pretty good night. He is still critically stable with his oxygen support at 70% now and is maintaining his saturation at near 100%, which is the best he has been! He has been bleeding in his chest again since last night, but not as much as before. He is still on steroids for the inflammation and they will put him on plasmapheresis (Click for more information) when the team and machine arrive from the bay area this afternoon.

Click here for additional information on plasmapheresis

Update 7/27/11 @ 5:45PM

They have decreased the amount of O2 they are giving him from 100% to 90% at noon. He has been tolerating it well and his saturation has still been around 100%. All his other vitals are looking good. They have turned him a little and have been able to suction out more old blood. They can hear a little more breath sounds in the left lung than what they could yesterday. They will be starting him on plasmapheresis as well as a new drug that has just been approved for Wegener’s, Rituximab. His nurse, Ashlee, said that it has been another “good day”.

*Blood Drive Update: We are also in the process of putting on a blood drive for Alan. We will keep you updated when we have the details.

Update 7/27/11 @ 1:20 PM

The doctors have decided to wait on using the Remicade and have decided to try a treatment that is not as harsh: plasmapheresis. The entire team working on Alan agrees that it would be a better option since it does not target the immune system directly. They will probably start him on it tomorrow morning since it takes a team to set it up. They hope to see signs of change three days from the start of the treatment.

Update 7/27/11 @ 12:00PM

At 3:30 AM Alan was still critically stable. His vital signs and oxygenation were looking good (blood saturation of 97-99%. His lungs were still sounding like they were yesterday and he is still not bleeding. He was still only on one BP medication and they were able to remove some liquid and looked better, but there is still a lot of fluid.

The posters and cards are up in his room and he is surrounded with love and faith.


At 9:00 AM the doctors approached us with a new strategy in treating Alan. Specialists at UCSF Fresno, UCSF San Francisco and Stanford have all been in collaboration reviewing Alan’s case. They feel that instead of a fungal infection (ie Valley Fever) they think he has an autoimmune disorder called Wegner’s granulomatosis (Go here for more information). It is basically a form of vasculitis, which is inflammation of the blood vessels that causes less blood to go to vital organs. The basis for their diagnosis is that the only positive test that has come back twice is anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies or ANCAs. ANCAs are basically like little commandos that have gone rogue and have started to attack the body instead of defend it. Alan also had blood in his urine when he was first admitted to the hospital in Selma, which makes the physicians much more confident that this is what he has. Wegener’s is not genetic, nor is it communicable. If it was something else, like Valley Fever, Alan should have responded by now to the medications he has been on since he has been on them since July 10. While they are not sure how one can get Wegener’s it may have been caused by any type of infection. The treatment is a chemotherapy drug called Remicade (Go here for more information). Like other chemotherapy treatments, it is designed to prevent the immune system from attacking the body. The treatment takes about a week and we should begin to see its effect in around three days or so. Since he will be on this chemotherapy, Alan will most likely be on a very stringent isolation protocol due to the severe consequences should he get an infection of any type. Visitation will be limited to immediate family.

We have setup an account for Alan with the Central California Blood Center. For those who are able to, we are asking for people to donate blood in his name. To do so, you can go to any Central California Blood Center and mention that you wish to donate blood in Alan’s name. You just need his first and last name. Since this blog is public, and to keep confidentiality for Alan, if you wish to donate but do not know his last name please contact a friend or family member for that information. Also on Friday, July 29, through the month of August the blood center will be doing their annual “Pint for Pint” promotion. The blood center will give you a voucher for a pint of ice cream to Baskin Robbins. For those who do not live in the San Joaquin Valley, we are asking that you still donate to your local blood bank or Red Cross.

Please continue to keep Alan in your thoughts and prayers.Thank you all for all of your continued support to Alan and his family.

Update 7/26/11 @ 6:45PM

Alan's nurse, Ashlee, said that today has been a "good day". His vitals are all looking great (P 110, BP 120/70, O2 95%). He is still on 100% O2, but his saturation has even improved from last night (which was 85% around midnight, which was pretty good). There has still been no bleeding from the chest tubes since around 8:30 last night, which is great! They hear lung sounds in the right lung and in the upper lobe of the left lung, which is the same as how it was last night at midnight. He is only on one BP medication (yesterday he was on 3). They started him on a blood thinner around noon, for the ECMO machine, and he has maintained his ability to clot blood (good thing). The medical staff have also started tube-feedings again. When we went in, Alan was looking a little less swollen than yesterday because they have been slowly taking off fluid. Ashlee also mentioned that he has been able to rest a lot today and that has helped him significantly improve.

We want to thank everyone for their continued support during all of this. We are especially grateful for honoring our request in limiting the visits at the hospital to immediate family only. Because of your understanding and support in this, Alan has been able to rest, heal and is that much stronger today than he was yesterday. Again, thank you for all of the prayers and support.

We are in the process of organizing a blood drive in behalf of Alan and more information will be forthcoming.