Christa Pike has spent 30 years on Tennessee’s death row. Her lawyers say a rare blood condition could make lethal injection more painful and increase the risk of complications. (Foto: Instagram)
Christa Pike, a 50-year-old woman on death row in the United States who survived two lethal-injection attempts, was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer before a planned execution, People magazine reported. Her lawyers have argued that her medical condition could make an execution by lethal injection more painful and increase the risk of complications.
On Jan. 8, 2026, Pike’s attorneys filed a court complaint alleging that the planned execution would violate the First, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The complaint said Pike’s platelet levels were significantly higher than normal, a condition that may be associated with a rare blood cancer known as a myeloproliferative disorder.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer. She has spent 30 years on death row. If carried out, her execution would have made her the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years. Instead, she survived the lethal-injection procedure, becoming the first prisoner in the state known to have survived one.
Pike regained consciousness in a hospital on Oct. 6 while connected to a ventilator. Her first words were, “Where am I, and who are you?” She then asked about the family of Slemmer, according to Spivey.
Pike was discharged from the hospital on Oct. 10 and returned to prison, where she has been held for more than 30 years.
