Valley Organization Helps Under and Uninsured Pay for Cancer Treatment
Cancer treatment wouldn’t be possible for hundreds of people in the Coachella Valley without the assistance of a local organization.
Cancer not only takes a toll on your health, the emotional and financial tolls can be tremendous as well. That’s where a local agency steps in.
“I figured I’d been given a death sentence.”
That’s what Lisa Addy thought when she got the devastating diagnosis of stage three melanoma.
“People think that skin cancer is not a serious thing. And you tell them you have melanoma, and they say, oh, it’s only skin cancer,” Addy explains.
But when the woman from Pioneertown, in the High Desert, got her diagnosis in February of 2009, she was told she’d have between nine months and five years to live.
“But it’s been three and a half years,” she says.
The initial diagnosis was a shock; and just as shocking, was the price she’d have to pay to get treatment.
“I had no health insurance. No finances to speak of.”
The day she got the news, she also learned about the Desert Cancer Foundation.
“I went to them and within a week, I was in surgery,” Addy says.
And it’s not just any kind of treatment.
“People come from all over the world for the kinds of treatments I’m getting,” she explains.
Four surgeries later, the mother of two isn’t in the clear, but there’s one thing she doesn’t have to worry about. She points to a number on a bill from the hospital.
“$47,187 and that’s just for one portion of it.”
Desert Cancer Foundation paid every penny of her cancer treatment.
“They cover it all. I pay nothing.”
The Coachella Valley non-profit works with hospitals to pay a percentage of the bill, and helps patients like Addy get pre-existing condition insurance coverage. Now Desert Cancer Foundation pays for her health insurance.
“Desert Cancer Foundation has forged strategic partnerships with physicians, medical centers, imaging centers and other health care professionals,” says Executive Director Louise Fasana. “(They) share our vision and mission, (to) provide state-of-the-art medical care at approximately one-sixth the current billable rate.”
“They’ve paid a lot,” Addy says. “It’s unbelievable.”
Desert Cancer Foundation helped hundreds of people in the Coachella Valley who are uninsured or under-insured.
“To date, through its two Patient Assistance Programs, Desert Cancer Foundation has funded more than $45.4 million in cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment,” Fasana details. “At a cost of only $6.4 million, while assisting more than 5,700 families.”
“It’s a very special organization,” Addy says.
An organization Addy believes saved her life.
“Thank you, I would not be alive without you.”
Addy now tells people if they’re prone to getting moles, get them checked out. It’s a very simple step that can go a long way toward staying healthy.
Fasana says demand for Desert Cancer Foundation services is increasing.
“In the first six months of 2012, Desert Cancer Foundation began treatments for 50 new patients, in addition to our established patients,” says Fasana. “We are also finding far more advanced, acute cancers, with Stages of III and IV.”
In 2011, Desert Cancer Foundation assistance for cancer patients ranging in age from 18 to 85, for cancers of all types including lung, brain, breast, prostate, lymphoma, pancreatic, colon, leukemia, and testicular.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT/FUNDRAISERS
Desert Cancer Foundation is supported, in part, by three significant fundraisers:
Paint El Paseo Pink is a walk to support Desert Cancer Foundation’s breast cancer screening program and will be held on Saturday, October 13, 2012.
A Gift of Life is a dinner gala and fine wine auction and will be held on Saturday, October 27, 2012.
A Round for Life is a two-day gala and golf tournament and will be held on April 14 and 15, 2013.
To learn more about Desert Cancer Foundation, visit them online at www.desertcancerfoundation.org
