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.
*Names have been changed to maintain patient confidentiality