Viewpoint

Viewpoint: Cancer series was meant to shed light on serious disease

By Ruth Ann Angus

Iwant to thank The Tribune for running the cancer series that told my story. It was very comforting to have reporter Sarah Arnquist and photographer David Middlecamp along with me through most of my journey through breast cancer treatments. As I have been out and about in the community lately, I have received nothing but positive feedback from the articles and the videos/slide shows on the Web site. Everyone I spoke with thanked me for allowing the paper to run my story.

I know that there has been at least one negative letter to the editor sent in, and because of that I would like to impart the reasons why I agreed to be the subject of this cancer series.

Basically, there were two reasons. My main reason was because I was facing a terrible financial situation. I was unable to work at either the freelance writing I do or the temporary fill-in job I perform for San Luis Sports Therapy. Because I had only just recovered from a long disability due to extensive spinal surgery, I had not amassed enough wages to qualify for anything but the bare minimum from state disability. I did not carry an independent disability insurance policy, so I was facing the fact that there would be no income coming in for me except my Social Security, which is not enough for anyone to live on.

When I inquired at the American Cancer Society whether there is any kind of assistance for people in this situation, I discovered there is virtually none. Most bankruptcies in this country stem from people experiencing medical problems. Compound the fact that one loses his or her income with the fact that many people are either not insured or are underinsured, and you can see why this is occurring. I,

at least, did have medical coverage, but I still needed to pay rent, buy food, pay off credit cards, buy gasoline, pay utilities and more. There would be no money coming in for me to do these things. If friends had not put on fundraisers for me, I would have had to file bankruptcy.

The second reason I had for doing the series is perhaps even more important. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I told many people what was transpiring. I was stunned and disappointed to have many of them reply to me that they felt it was nothing much to be concerned about. I found that there is a feeling out there that nowadays people beat breast cancer or that there is a real cure. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, many women manage to get through the treatments and continue to live for years. But they always live with the shadow of its possible return.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer there is. More than 178,000 people get breast cancer every year in the United States and 40,000 of them die every year. These statistics do not bear out anyone having the attitude that breast cancer is an easy thing to beat.

I learned that each person’s breast cancer is unique to them. My cancer isn’t like anyone else’s. There are many parameters that define the type of breast cancer one may have. I am pleased when I hear that someone tolerates the chemotherapy treatments well. I did not, and that is because of the type of chemo I had to have for my type of breast cancer and my physical constitution. My story may have painted a horrible picture, but it IS my story, not someone else’s. The reality is this: anyone could have as bad a time as I had or they may not.

The other reality is that there is no cure for cancer yet. Those of us who have this devastating diagnosis have to live with cancer forever. Until such time that medical science has a true cure, we have to face the possibility of its active return and the fact that it may end our lives.

In the meantime it is important for the public to know and understand that chemotherapy treatments are not the cure and they affect more than just the cancer cells in the body. There are many side effects and after effects that impact a person’s health and well-being. Some of these don’t show up for some years after treatment. Chemotherapy can eradicate the present cancer cells but cannot guarantee that they will not return.

Radiation has changed over the years so that it is more specific to the particular cancer it is treating, but it is still a devastating method of treatment and too much radiation can cause cancer. Neither of these treatments are the best way to rid one of cancer. They are, unfortunately, all we’ve got.

I wish for everyone who is going through breast cancer, or any type of cancer, that they do well with their treatments and that they manage to acquire many years free of this awful disease. But more than that, I hope that series like mine will encourage people to support cancer research so that sometime in the future there will be a true cure or preventive measure and no one would ever have to go through what I have gone through.

Again, thank you for allowing Sarah to write the series and David to do his magic with photography.