Friday, September 13, 2013

Healthcare Desparities - KILLER OF YOUNG BLACK WOMEN!!!!

It is with great sadness that I remember my dear friend "pretty girl".  She was a person that was so dear to me and my husband.  We were mentors and helpers to her inside and outside of church.  I have known "pretty girl"" for at least 13 years.  She was a very sweet young woman.  As a victim of MISDIAGNOSED BREAST CANCER, she was cut down in her prime.  She was in her early fourties and a mother of a beautiful 10 year old daughter from Harlem, NY.  

It all started with a radio show in 2011 that taught her how to search for a lump in her breast.  She actually found a lump and that began the deadly downward spiral of MISDIAGNOSES. "Hi "pretty girl" what's going on"? "Oh girl I found a lump in my breast and I went to get a mamo and they said that it is a (readers brace yourself) a FIBROID IN MY BREAST". "oh no "pretty girl" , that doesn't sound right. I think you should get a 2nd opinion".  

Now "pretty girl" was a very bright and extremely kind person.  Her only crime was that she was a victim of poverty and had a history of "mental illness" and lived in the Ghetto.  What's even sadder is that she searched for a physician that would actually take on her case after the initial physician's MISDIAGNOSES.  He went on vacation after telling her that it WAS NOT CANCER.  After a 7-9 month delay getting treatment in the NYC metro area, because Dr's would not start chemo treatment, she found a Dr. that would treat her. She was a finally started on Chemotherapy and  by then a mastectomy was needed and done.  

Flash forward 6 months later, the CANCER RETURNS WITH A VENGENCE AND SHE IS WORSE THAN BEFORE...I metastisized to her bones and possibly lungs because of ongoing respiratory distress.  I saw her in April at church for a reunion service and noticed that she had lost a lot of weight and learned in August that she was in fact dying of breast cancer.  

The thing that was so crazy is that the cancer did not kill her it was Sepsis due to a recent nosocomial infection from a recent stay in the hospital for pneumonia. August 27th I spoke to her briefly and she said "I am sooooo extra weak". I said "go back to the hospital, do you think you still have pneumonia"?  "I don't know". "I can't even walk". Earlier that week we were trying to get her to the Cancer Centers of America in Phildelphia, but she was too ill to be moved.

I said, "I want to see you what is your new address?"  She said "No meet me at the hospital, I want you to come". "Okay I'm gonna get ready let me know whe you will leave or be on your way"  The next day she was put on a respirator after I called the nurse and demanded some treatment for her to breathe.  Just 14 days later "pretty girl" was gone.  

She was tired and she said to me the day before her last hospitalization that she has been sick a long time and it is only getting worse.  My heart is broken because I've read and watched several prominant stars and other races that get the best treatment for cancer that has been irradicated or gone into remission.  Another one of ours cut off because she was not important enough to treat because she was not important to America.

2 comments:

  1. I know this story all too well from my experiences with Komen. And it's just a shame that it happens over and over and over again, and that not many people really care. IMHO, this is one of the more insidious yet deadly forms of racism in society, the other being the poor quality schools poor minority childern are forced to attend. Thanks for sharing and for the reminder to stay on track!

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  2. you got it!!! we have a lot of work to do.... this touched me like no other...." She said I couldn't find a Dr. to help me". Really disgraceful when we will send money to a foreign country in a hartbeat.

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