Elka
“More research and better funding would give us all a better chance.”
2021 Story
I was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic transitional cell collecting duct cancer (renal) in 2013. I have been forced to continue working for employers with adverse cultures and aspirations to my own as a result of the fear of being left without continued choice of treatment which comes with insurance only offered by group plans, and being able to seek treatment at the facilities of my choosing.
I also had many hurdles to receiving treatment as there is no protocol or research available concerning the specific type of cancer I am experiencing, so the treatment plan is foreign to the insurers and was often initially denied causing me to need to use compassionate care programs of the various drug companies or alternative methods of treatment.
More research and better funding would give us all a better chance. As a result of the limited availability of treatment options, I was provided an immunotherapy drug that was relatively new with unknown side effects. As a result of the prolonged use of the drug, I have continued to beat the odds given my prognosis but have ended up with MS as a side effect of the drug creating only additional challenges to my everyday life and the treatment of the underlying Cancer diagnosis. Additional research and funding may have prevented this added condition. I often think about the other 95% who didn't have the choices for survival e.g employer provided insurance with options for the best consultants and healthcare facilities the best techniques, and the latest treatment options.
- Oregon
- North Carolina
- Indiana
- Tennessee
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Washington
- Utah
- West Virginia
- Colorado
- Massachusetts
- Missouri
- Arizona
- Wisconsin
- Nevada
- New York
- Kentucky
- Hawaii
- Minnesota
- California
- Florida
- Pennsylvania
- Michigan
- Canada
- Texas
- Illinois
- Connecticut
- New Hampshire
- Ohio
- Georgia
- Maryland
- Ontario
- Virginia
- Idaho
