(Continued from page 10)

Let's go back to the scientists and the DNA for a moment before we go any further.  While they did not use chromosomal DNA to identify the remains unearthed in Koptyaki they did use it to determine the gender of the bones.  To do this the scientists must see if the DNA contains two X-chromosomes indicating a female or one X and one Y-chromosome indicating a male.  One can assume that since the gene that causes haemophilia is part of the X-chromosome that was used to identify the gender of the remains the scientists would be able to recognize it.  If that is the case, one can also assume that they already know for certain if the Empress and her daughters really were carriers of the disease. 

No evidence of such a type, which could prove the existence of haemophilia in the Royal line, has ever been published. If the chromosomal DNA examination did reveal such evidence then the scientists are keeping it to themselves.  Logic dictates that the only reason for withholding such evidence is if it showed that the haemophilia gene is not present in the remains of the Romanov women.  That, in turn, would mean that the blood disease suffered by the Tsarevich was something else.  The only reason to withhold such information would be if there is concern about an Alexei claimant who fits that description.

When the end appeared to be near at the lowest point of Alexei's 1912 Spala episode four doctors circled the boy's bed.  A priest gave the Tsarevich the Last Rites and death notices were prepared.  It was at this point that the most mysterious figure of the play, Grigory Rasputin, made his grandest entrance and he did so without actually being present.  He sent the Empress a telegram that said, "Do not grieve. The Little One will not die.  Do not allow the doctors to bother him too much".  Within a day or two the boy began to show miraculous signs of recovery.

Thrombocytopenia has the peculiar ability to fade away almost as quickly as it first appears... if it does not kill the patient first.  This trait of spontaneous remission suggests that Rasputin was nothing more than a creature of good timing.  Another possibility may be that the so-called "Mad Monk" may have seen the same symptoms before.  Members of Rasputin's own family had suffered and died from serious illness and he had learned a lot about life while he traversed much of Russia and the Middle East on foot before finally settling in St. Petersburg.

It has often been speculated that Rasputin may have used hypnosis to cure the Russian Heir's symptoms.  While this seems very unlikely, Alexei Tammet-Romanov insisted that he liked the man who was described as a "starets" and said that his eyes did have a calming effect.

A patient might have many episodes of thrombocytopenia over the years but, then again, a patient might only ever have one and it might never return.  If the patient who suffers such episodes manages to survive, then the disease has another trait  that figures prominently in our story.  Twenty to forty percent of adult patients can experience long term remission.

©  J. Kendrick 1997                                                                                                                                          (Continued on page 12)