Influencer Isabel Veloso died this Saturday (10), aged 19. The information was confirmed by her father, Joelson, on social media and by her husband, Lucas Borbas. She had been hospitalized since November at Erasto Gaertner Hospital in Curitiba, Paraná, with Graft Versus Host disease. According to her father, Joelson, she was experiencing rejection of the graft made to treat lymphoma.
Shortly before her death, also this Saturday (10), Joelson Veloso asked for closer monitoring of his daughter. “Despite all the efforts of the intensive care team, we felt the lack of more attentive monitoring by hematology, especially in such a delicate and unstable condition. Isabel needs comprehensive and constant attention. She is more than a clinical case: she is a young woman full of life, faith and the will to live”, he stated.
“We request urgent measures and due commitment to his recovery. Silence in the face of the seriousness of the situation cannot be an option. We continue to trust in God, but we also ask for responsibility, respect and humanity. As a father, I am tired of listening, there is no way! We will not remain silent”, he said.
On Instagram, Isabel’s husband mourned her death and said he was in pain too great to put into words. “Isabel left, and with her goes a part of me. But love… love doesn’t die. She was light in the darkest days, she was courage when everything said to give up, she was love when life seemed unfair. She lived intensely, loved deeply, fought as far as was humanly possible — and even beyond”, he wrote.
“Nothing we experienced was in vain. Our story was real, it was beautiful, it was true. We built a family, a love that does not depend on time or physical presence to exist. It lives in me, it lives in our son, it lives in each person who was touched by its strength”, he said.
Previously, Isabel’s father had explained that the problem occurred after the bone marrow transplant. “Unfortunately, graft rejection (Graft-versus-Host Disease) and serious infections after transplantation are serious and unpredictable risks. They appear aggressively and are difficult to control. The weakened body and the complexity of the treatment make everything more delicate”, he said in a text, before Isabel’s death.
What is Graft Versus Host Disease?
The disease, according to the United States National Library of Medicine, is a serious complication that can occur after bone marrow or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
The problem that Isabel faces occurs when T lymphocytes from the donor graft recognize the recipient’s tissues as foreign, due to differences in compatibility. In other words, the lymphocytes initiate an immune response against them and attack the patient’s body.
The attack, according to studies, occurs in the first 100 days after the transplant, causing the patient to have damage to several organs, such as the skin, gastrointestinal tract, liver and lungs. In the case of Isabel Veloso, she had respiratory complications.
