Some people ask me why I get political. Some people ask me
why I got involved in the American Cancer Society after working as a Director of
Corporate Development and then resigning my role after the stress of the
position. Some people ask, why, after being a survivor of breast cancer, do I continue
having the stress of being involved in either. I say I value life.
Getting the opportunity to work at the American Cancer
Society (ACS) post cancer was an eye opening experience. I found myself the
only staff member in Nashville that was a cancer survivor at the
time. It was a blessing and a curse to
work for a mission after having a bird’s eye view of the devastation it wrecks
in one’s life mentally, spiritually and physically. I thought the very least I
could do is give back.
Thus, after forming a team for Making Strides for Breast
Cancer while in treatment gave me a fresh start on my path to my work with
ACS. I was given the opportunity to be a
headliner speaker at their annual Kick-off Breakfast at the Wild Horse Saloon
that year in downtown Nashville. I then
made it my mission to not only work diligently for them but to learn all I
could about what is being done to combat cancer in America. What I learned is
that, next to the Federal government, ACS is the number one agency funding cancer research in our country.
I discovered that the research that was done on herceptin, the drug that combats HER+ breast cancer, was funded by ACS. This type of cancer affects 20-25% of breast cancer patients. Prior to 2005, there was no known cure for this type of
pathology. I had Her2+ so ACS was
indirectly responsible for my survival.
During the time I worked at ACS, the Affordable Care Act had
not been enacted. This was a time when I saw firsthand the effect of not having
access to care for cancer patients. The effects were devastating and stories I
heard and experienced first-hand have forever affected my attitudes, passion
and compassion. I cannot abandon those that have died and suffered due to this
lack of humanity.
I hear the claims of those without insurance are lazy, out
of work and undeserving. I read the claims that they are without foresight of
the possibility of having cancer and do not plan according. I also have heard
voters say it is not their responsibility to pay for the sick that is until
they are afflicted with the disease and suddenly struck with the realities of
the healthcare system that bankrupts more people, medical bills, than any other
cause. I too was hit with cancer prior to changes in the system.
Let me share some of my realities as I have been accused of
living in utopia and not in the real world. I have lived in the real
world. Cancer is real. Treatment is hell, and sitting next to folks suffering
without insurance is anything but utopia. Getting chemotherapy next to someone with limited insurance vomiting next to you because their coverage doesn’t
include nausea medication is not pretty.
Having a younger brother opt out of treatment and going instead for
radical surgery to avoid costs of lengthy treatment is very disheartening. Draining portions of your limited retirement account is not a fantasy or a dream come
true for anyone fighting cancer and we certainly were not expecting it to happen to ours. But that was our reality too. Cancer is costly, without insurance, deadly unless you are rich.
So my involvement in cancer, in many forms, most notably ACS
is paying it forward and also paying it
back. It is trying to prevent further tragedies of our country going backwards in terms of legislation. I do not want anyone to experience what I saw and heard on the phone and in
person, treatable cancer patients dying, patients suffering through treatment that
could be avoided with the right kind of drugs and half-ass treatment due to
limited insurance. Children losing limbs and then also not getting prosthetics so spending a lifetime in a wheelchair. Or a single mother who had an 18 month old child survive cancer but because of the pre-existing condition was denied healthcare coverage for most of his entire life so had to pay all medical for him out of pocket!
It is a misnomer that minorities are at higher risk for cancer. In the days when insurance was not as widespread as it is now, many got diagnosed at later stages. This is because they waited to go to the doctor till they were very symptomatic. At the later stages, cancer is harder to treat and more costly.
With insurance, cancer is cheaper to treat because people go to doctors and
cancer is caught earlier. It is also able to be treated more effectively. If
you remove insurance, as it was when I was on the payroll at ACS, the amount of
deaths from cancer will quickly rise and the amount of people that will be
willing to enter clinical trials will diminish as side effects are not covered
by trials but by your primary insurance so you need to be insured.
My political activism wasn’t a choice in my mind. During my time at ACS we were all encouraged,
somewhat pushed, to be involved with
another branch of ACS called ACS CAN, CAN standing for Cancer Action Network.
This organization is a cancer advocacy organization dedicated to making cancer
a top national priority in issues, policies and laws in the fight against
cancer. I have been accused of looking
at politics through high school eyes because I agree with the attitudes of this
organization, which, incidentally are bipartisan.
Is this political or humanity? Ask someone who has survived cancer, especially
someone who knows someone who did not because of a lack of insurance. Ask a woman who had breast cancer and could
not get reconstruction prior to the law requiring insurance companies to cover
it how they feel about politics getting involved in healthcare decisions and
making mandatory coverage for all on issues like this.
None of us will live forever. None of us, I suppose, wants
to. But we all deserve to live with a responsibly decent quality of life. I live in a 55+ Active Community with 600
homes, most of which are Republicans supporting the GOP healthcare suggested
changes. I am political for all of them. The majority of the neighbors I have met in
the past 18 months have pre-existing health conditions. If these conditions are
not covered or are covered with exorbitant rates, these neighbors and myself
will be lost in the system. Their votes
will backfire. I don’t want that for them, whether they realize it or not I am
fighting for them, not against them or anyone else. Accessible affordable
healthcare with changes made is a reasonable expectation in America. And since
I survived cancer, I must continue fighting for it.
If you value something, you fight for it. I value the
breaths I take, the moments in a day. Hence, I fight to live. I believe others
have that right too. I am limited in what I can do but I will use my voice in
the small capacity I can to make noise to stand up for cancer and issues that
affect human lives. To not do so is to be self-absorbed and only care about my
life and no one else’s.
Call me a dreamer, but I’m awake now, no longer flat on
my back in treatment. Call me an idealist but we are a rich country with a rich
government making decisions for millions of Americans that can’t nearly afford
what they can and seemingly having little say over something as significant as
affordable healthcare. There are
solutions, there should be options and it should be inclusive not
exclusive. Cancer is greatly impacted by
the decisions that are made in this area and this disease is like a domino in
how it affects families, schools, communities, workplaces, finances, and the
future. So yes, why ask me why?
