Court documents have revealed that convicted murderer Christa Pike has a rare form of cancer. The documents show that her lawyers are warning that her diagnosis could result in "unnecessary and superadded pain and suffering, terror, and disgrace" nine months before she survived two lethal injections.
The complaint, obtained by PEOPLE, said her "platelet count is significantly elevated". It added that this was likely due to a rare form of blood cancer called myeloproliferative disorder and cited problems with her veins. This revelation comes as the 50-year-old Pike issued a plea not to be sent back to her former prison block.
Medical Concerns and Legal Arguments
"A pulmonary edema is not simply painful or uncomfortable; it can create a sense of suffocating or drowning that has been likened by experts to the sensation intentionally induced by the practice of waterboarding—an unambiguous form of outright torture," the complaint read.
On September 30, Ms Pike became the first-ever death row inmate to survive a lethal injection execution. She spent days unconscious and in critical condition after surviving two doses of pentobarbital allegedly administered with at least 10 needles.
Recovery and Conditions of Confinement
She woke up and began speaking in full sentences after her legal team believed that she was brain dead on October 5 and expected her to be taken off life support the following day.
Ms Pike is still receiving treatment for her injuries, however her lawyers say that keeping her in the prison's infirmary, where she allegedly lacks "meaningful human contact", violates the terms of a 2024 settlement agreement with the Tennessee Department of Corrections.
In the motion, a federal judge is asked to restore Ms Pike's conditions of confinement under that agreement. The conditions allow her to work, eat and spend time with fellow prisoners, just not inside her former pod.
Plea Against Prison Transfer
"This renewed isolation, coming right after the execution attempt and after twenty-eight years of solitary confinement, is causing me serious psychological harm and trauma," Ms Pike wrote in the motion.
"This pod houses inmates with significant histories of assaults and disciplinary problems," Ms Pike wrote. "In my two years living in this pod… I witnessed multiple assaults by close custody inmates of other inmates and guards, multiple individuals who were undergoing acute psychological breakdowns, and significant danger."
"In my current physical condition, I could not defend myself or get away if another inmate attacked me. I am afraid that I will be seriously hurt if I am moved to that pod while I am this weak," her statement continued.
She was sentenced to death for the brutal 1995 murder of her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Ms Pike, 18 at the time, and her then boyfriend tortured the young woman before stabbing her with a box cutter.
While on death row, she had 25 years added to her sentence after being convicted of attempting to murder a fellow inmate by strangling her with a shoestring in August 2001.
