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Obituary: Josephine Bogie Thomas, Advocate for early diagnosis of common genetic disease
Monday, May 17, 1999 By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Josephine Bogie Thomas had traced her genealogy to veterans of the Revolutionary War, representing a legacy of fighting spirit still intact in her own makeup two centuries later.
Hers also was a bloodline carrying the most common genetic disease in the United States, hereditary hemochromatosis, and Mrs. Thomas made it her mission to raise public awareness of the disease for the 16 years from her diagnosis until her death Thursday in her Ohio Township apartment.
"She committed herself to being an advocate for education and diagnosis and urging people to go and get screened," said Dr. Geoffrey Block, director of the hemochromatosis center at UPMC Health System, who had been treating Mrs. Thomas since last year.
Mrs. Thomas, 78, was a Kentucky native whose husband, Joseph, became a successful businessman in Dayton, Ohio. They retired early to Gulf Stream, Fla., but moved to the Pittsburgh area in July for her to receive treatment for primary liver cancer, which is one of the most common causes of death for those with hemochromatosis.
Hemochromatosis is an illness in which the body's key organs absorb iron in excess amounts. The iron is toxic, potentially leading to fatal heart ailments, cirrhosis of the liver, arthritis and other organ damage.
After being diagnosed with the disease in Florida in 1983, she became an articulate spokeswoman for its victims in various newspaper and television reports and worked with her daughter, Sandra Thomas, who founded the American Hemochromatosis Society. The society has worked to educate the medical community and the public about the often overlooked disease.
"Even when she was in the hospital, she was giving out brochures [about the disease] and talking about it to anyone coming in the room. She was trying to spread the word," said Thomas, who relocated to Ohio Township with her parents to assist them.
Mrs. Thomas had already overcome one potentially fatal illness in life. She was treated for advanced ovarian cancer in the early 1980s.
Afterward, she began the standard protocol for treatment of hemochromatosis patients: periodic removal of units of blood for the rest of her life.
The blood removal causes the excess iron to move out of organs, where it is most dangerous, and into the bloodstream to make up for the loss.
Mrs. Thomas and her family have campaigned for more people, particularly those of Celtic ancestry who are most susceptible to the disease, to receive blood tests early enough so the hemochromatosis can be detected in time to prevent life-threatening illnesses.
Her zeal to raise awareness was accompanied by spiritual poetry and a generous manner that made Mrs. Thomas all the more admirable to those treating her.
Besides her husband and daughter, she is survived by a sister, Anna May Bogie Scholla, of Louisville, Ky.
She will be buried Thursday at Resthaven Memorial Park in Louisville, with a private family service. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Florida. Local arrangements were by the John A. Freyvogel Funeral Home, Shadyside.
Condolences may be sent to the Thomas family at Box 6906, Delray Beach, Fla. 33482-6906. Memorial donations may be sent to the Josephine Bogie Thomas Memorial Fund, American Hemochromatosis Society, 777 E. Atlantic Ave., Suite Z-363, Delray Beach, Fla. 33483-5352.
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