Deepali, 51 | Breast Cancer
Life is a big challenge when you are a single mother, Deepali, aged 51, who lost her husband to cardiac illness and is survived with 2 children, was struggling with finances on a day-to-day basis. But life came to a complete halt when she recently got diagnosed with HER-2-positive breast cancer. Being diagnosed with this particular type of breast cancer meant that she required a special kind of chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy which uses a drug called trastuzumab and a combination of other drugs, which are quite expensive. A total of 6 cycles meant that she needed somewhere around 3-3.5 lakhs for her initial treatment alone. A single mother with 2 children, belonging to an indigent background, she used to make ends meet by providing tiffin service. Affording this kind of treatment for her breast cancer was off-limits for her. OCA Foundation on knowing about the patient and the fact that only this line of treatment would work for her stepped in and provided financial and medical assistance to her. Not only the Foundation provided her with medical assistance but also counselled her to take up this treatment as she was initially reluctant to start due to the heavy cost associated with the treatment. With the help and support provided to her by the Foundation, she has now successfully completed 5 cycles of chemotherapy and targeted therapy. After the initial 4 chemotherapies, a repeat PET scan was done which showed an excellent response, and now her treating doctor has planned to complete 6 cycles of chemotherapy and plan for surgery after completion.
He is quite confident and optimistic about her recovery after the surgery and follow-up treatment.
With the help and treatment support provided by OCA Foundation and seeing that she is showing great results, now even her friends and family members have started providing monetary support as well, who otherwise initially was reluctant to do that. This has been a great outcome for her as well as for the foundation.
So, this was a patient who in normal circumstances wouldn’t have been able to afford the standard treatment required but with the help of the OCA Foundation has not only successfully completed the initial part of the treatment of chemotherapies but has also shown great results.
Manik, 22 | Metastatic Germ Cell Tumor
Manik, a young boy aged 22, was diagnosed with metastatic germ cell tumor, a tumor of the testis. The patient had earlier undergone surgery for it and had exhausted all his personal funds in doing so. So, when it came to further treatment, he faced a very difficult time arranging funds, and that led to a delay in his treatment.
He came to OCA Foundation for help at a stage where cancer had spread to his lungs. But luckily in such cases of lung metastatic, the survival rate is generally high, more than 50% (the 5-year survival period). The patient was required to receive treatment with a high-dose chemotherapy called VIP Protocol, which is intensive chemotherapy. He was admitted for 5 days per cycle and this was repeated every 21 days for 6 cycles.
The patient’s family was from Uttar Pradesh but his elder brother who stayed in Vapi, Maharashtra, was helping his brother out with treatment and care. The treatment cost was coming up to approx. 3 lakhs. Apart from the treatment cost, the cost of traveling all the way from Vapi was also a big challenge for the family. To add to that, since he was traveling from Vapi every single time, the cost of in-patient hospitalization for 5 days for every 6 cycles also amounted to a huge sum. But, belonging to a lower-middle-class background, they did not have the bandwidth to afford such an expensive treatment. The family then reached out to OCA Foundation and after due diligence and document checks, the patient was approved for receiving funds for his treatment from the Foundation. Once, he received the funds from OCA Foundation, his treatment kicked off immediately and he started responding very well to the treatment given. The PET CT scan is done after 3 cycles and showed a near complete response now, he has just finished his 6 cycles of chemotherapy and he will be going in for another scan very soon. His treating doctor is quite confident and believes that the second scan will show a good response to the treatment. Apart from the treatment provided, the Dr. faced a tough time convincing the patient to take up the treatment. As the major side-effect of such treatments is generally hair-loss and for such a young boy the thought of losing all his hair was a major concern and barrier in his mind. But the constant support and counselling done by the treating Dr. and OCA Foundation helped in giving the patient, the much-needed strength and comfort to be able to not just take up but also complete the treatment successfully.
