Cancer advocacy groups are urging Congress to pass the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, which requires insurance companies pay for hospital stays after mastectomies. The act was first introduced by House Representative Rosa DeLauro in 1996, and re-introduced in 2005. It would stop the practice of what are called “drive-through” mastectomies. Though a hospital stay of two to four days is recommended, most women are forced to leave just hours after surgery because their insurance does not cover the hospital stay. Lifetime has been circulating a petition to urge Congress to pass the legislation. More than eleven million people have signed the petition.
Rep. DeLauro told Women’s eNews, “Breast cancer patients shouldn’t have to fight for recovery time when they’re already reeling from a physical and emotional trauma. With support for this measure growing, we hope to have it up for a vote within the next several months.”
Women’s eNews reports that two-thirds of women who have mastectomies leave the hospital within 24 hours because insurance does not cover the hospital stays. The National Cancer Institute states that surgery is the most common treatment of breast cancer. It is the second most common form of cancer in women.
read comments (0)AUGUSTA — The weather hasn’t been great.So Keleine Laflin has had to take her training indoors to prepare for the 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer in Boston.
She averages three to four miles a day on the treadmill.
The 60-mile walk, which benefits the Susan G. Komen For the Cure, a national philanthropic trust project, will be held August 15-17.
The Breast Cancer 3-Day walk series will visit 14 cities throughout the countr y starting in Chicago on Aug. 8 and ending in San Diego on Nov. 23. The 2008 Breast Cancer 3-Day Series will generate millions of dollars to fund critical breast cancer research and community-outreach programs.
The 35-year-old mother of three from Readfield will walk with a 10-woman team from Maine.
She said her mom has had 13 lumps removed from both breasts. The lumps were benign. Her husband’s aunt is a breast cancer survivor.
But it’s the women she works with at the Senator Inn & Spa who have left an impression. As an esthetician, Laflin treats a number of breast cancer survivors.
“They are so incredibly strong,” Laflin said Friday. “They’ve had mastectomies and double mastectomies or are going through chemo and radiation. I just feel it affects so many people in so many ways … children, husbands and friends. It’s affected me very strongly and this is something I need to do.”
Laflin will be walking with a team called the Pink Panters. The name of the team represents the color of the breast cancer ribbon, and their panting dogs that trail along when the women train outdoors on good-weather days.
Her three-year-old beagle, Dori, just wants to go, go, go.
“I’m not going to take her on the walk, because it’s a 60-mile walk,” she said.
The three-day route covers from 15 miles to 22 miles each day for three days in a row, totaling about 60 miles.
After a long day’s journey, teams will spend the evening at the 3-Day camp with fellow walkers and crew members.
Camp will consist of many different areas, including dining tents, where they will eat dinner and breakfast; and shower and sink trucks, for washing up.
There will be a 3-Day Café for relaxation and socialization, a stage for nightly announcements and entertainment, and a sea of two-person tents that will be their home away from home.
“I’m very excited,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a new adventure, and definitely going to be a personal achievement for me as well. It will be fun. I’m looking forward to it.”
But first Laflin must raise $2,200 to participate in the walk. People can donate at www.the3day.org.
Sarah Richardson, spokeswoman for Breast Cancer 3-Day event, said contributions can be made to the general breast cancer treatment fund or a specific walker at the 3-Day web page.
Jen Thibert, 37, a fellow walker from Oakland, has already raised half the funds she needed.
The stay-at-home mom has never participated in a fundraiser walk before so it’s all new to her.
But she wanted to do it on behalf of her mom, Diane Foley of Bucksport, who is celebrating her 10th year as a breast cancer survivor.
“It’s important to raise awareness,” Thibert said. “Every time we get out there and do a fundraiser we’re raising awareness of cancer and how people can help to prevent breast cancer by taking care of themselves and doing the exams, those types of things.”
Approached by mostly older women, many of whom are breast cancer survivors, the four women are gearing up for the June 6 weekend by raising at least $2,000 each and preparing for the 60-kilometre walk.
In Ottawa “we’re going to host bake sales and parties, as well as a kickboxing class,” said Tracy Mannila, who is a Timmins native currently residing in Ottawa.
Penny Joseph and Connie Bartolomucci-Holm are also from Timmins and live in Ottawa.
Tracy Simpson is the fourth in the five-person group. Unlike some of her teammates, the Timmins resident has never done the walk. She’s excited about supporting the cause.
“My parents have helped out quite a bit with fundraising,” she said. “Through word of mouth they’ve collected a lot.”
“We’ve all been affected by cancer in one way or another,” added Bartolomucci-Holm, “and we wanted to do something that would make a difference. When you tell people you’re walking 60 kilometres for a cause they really listen.”
There are women who finish chemotherapy on Wednesday and begin the walk that weekend.
“Last year was the first time we did it and raised about $2,400 each,” said Joseph.
“It’s an incredible experience.
On the Saturday, participants walk 35 kilometres, then many spend the night in tents before walking the remaining 25 the next day.
There are doctors, nurses and massage therapists on site to make sure everyone makes it through the event.
“When you’re finishing you walk through a huge group of people who are all celebrating your arrival and your huge accomplishment,” Mannila said.
“You’re in pain but it’s an incredible feeling and something to be proud of. Moments after we finished we signed up for this year,” she said.
“We’re doing it for the past, the people we’ve lost; the present, for us; and the future, for our daughters. I always tear up when I say that.”
To support the group, known as the Northern High Beams, go to www.endcancer.ca, click on “Ottawa,” then click “Sponsor a participant,” click on “Search for a team” then type “Northern High Beams.”
The 3rd Annual Birdies for Breast Cancer Golf Tournament will be Monday, May 12, 2008 at Rocky River Golf Club at Concord. The Captain’s Choice tournament will start at noon with a shotgun start.There are two hole in one prizes: Mens’ Stainless Steel ROLEX Submariner Watch courtesy of Village Jewelry and a 2008 Pontiac G6 4-Door Sedan courtesy of Ben Mynatt Pontiac Buick GMC. There will also be awards for top 3 teams, longest drive, longest putt, and closet to the pin.Registration fee is $80 per golfer and includes range balls, brunch, round of golf, dinner, awards and prizes. There will also be a silent auction and raffle.Net proceeds of the event will benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Charlotte Affiliate. For more info, visit queencitywalkers.org.
WHEN:
Monday, May 12, 2008 12 p.m.
WHERE:
Rocky River Golf Club at Concord
3900 Speedway Blvd.
Concord,NC 28027
Daphne Coffin considers herself the lucky one.
“I feel good,” said the blond, retired ultrasound technologist who once worked with cancer treatment pioneer H. Bliss Murphy at the old General Hospital. “I consider myself very lucky out of this fiasco.”
Coffin was speaking to reporters outside the hormone receptor testing inquiry in St. John’s Thursday, the last witness to testify in a shortened week bracketed by a snowstorm Tuesday and the Good Friday holiday.
“There are a lot of people who didn’t do as well as I did,” Coffin said.
She was compelled to testify because of those who have died, those who were too shy to come forward, or too old to endure the arduous task of sitting before more than a dozen lawyers in the temporary courtroom.
Coffin expressed disgust at the way Eastern Health dealt with the breast cancer retesting fiasco – which saw patients seeking out their test results through phone calls and cajoling. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, and is well today, but her initial test results were drastically different from the corrected results she was given in 2006 after her samples were retested. She first heard about the retesting at a cancer support group meeting.
“Absolutely, it was word of mouth,” said Coffin.
“There was no professional explanation of what was going on, I don’t think, to anybody. There was certainly none given to me. People are saying they heard about it on the open-line show and things. Eastern Health can send you out a letter for anything at all. All of a sudden, this massive thing was happening that affected a lot of people and they just did nothing.”
Hundreds of breast cancer patients received the wrong results from hormone receptor tests – used to determine treatment options – between 1997 and 2005. The errors were discovered when samples were retested beginning in 2005 after massive problems were discovered in the medical lab at the General Hospital.
The inquiry, led by Justice Margaret Cameron, is trying to uncover what went wrong.
Hormone receptor tests determine if a patient’s cancer cells can be stimulated by hormones. Patients who test positive may be offered drugs that block this action. Positive results bode well for treatment by hormone therapy drugs, such as Tamoxifen. Coffin’s initial estrogen and progesterone receptor (ER/PR) testing indicated she was weakly positive. Much later she learned she was strongly positive. The new results were known six months before Coffin was told.
Coffin was the fifth witness to testify at the inquiry, and answered stock questions much the same as other witnesses had, including whether Eastern Health had apologized, explained what went wrong or offered face-to-face meetings with patients.
All those answers have been no.
Only one witness so far – Norman White – has said he was contacted by Eastern Health about the fact retesting would be done.
“I’m sure other people feel the same that are involved in this. … Yes, I think we are owed an apology,” Coffin told the media.
She told the inquiry she’s hardly the only person who fell through the cracks.
There was no luck for Geraldine Avery. She suffered through four bouts of cancer. The former St. John’s Health Care Corp. – predecessor to the much larger Eastern Health – got Avery’s hormone receptor tests wrong, too. Avery died in 2006. But her younger sister, Patricia Goobie, also a breast cancer patient, spoke for her, with Avery’s picture resting on the table beside her.
Goobie listened, too, solemnly as inquiry lawyer Bern Coffey outlined the sisters’ medical timelines through charts and progress notes. Goobie’s initial hormone receptor results were accurate; Avery’s were wrong.
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- [NS]Advocacy Groups and Lifetime Television Lobby Congress to Pass Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act
- [NS]BREAST CANCER WALK Many miles to go
- [NS]Run for breast cancer research
- [NS]3rd Annual Birdies For Breast Cancer Golf Tournament
- [NS]Cancer survivor disgusted with handling of retesting
- [NS] British women drinkers warned against breast cancer risk
- [NS] Boobs, Bands and Beers: Concert for a Cure
- [NS]Silent vigil held in fight to save cancer services
- Boxing charity event.
- [NS] Rivals unite to fight breast cancer softball tournament