Pat Garcia-Gonzalez, Chief Executive Officer at The Max Foundation, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Our hope for a miracle for Max vanished on March 9th, 1991, the day he took his last breath. For two and a half years, we had clung to the dream that he would somehow defy the odds, and I remember imagining the published case report of his survival after a diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukemia. At the time, despite our best efforts, he couldn’t access the treatment he needed which included finding a matching bone marrow donor.
Today, 35 long years later, I am witness on a daily basis of families all over the world, from different cultures and geographies, all clinging to a dream that their loved one will have a chance to survive their cancer diagnosis. Things have evolved, and today there are really effective treatments and technologies developed to treat many types of cancer. But the schism between those who will be able to access these therapies and those who won’t has never been wider. Geography is not even a good indicator anymore, as families all over the world are now faced with the impossible dilemma of knowing that there is a treatment available locally, but for which they don’t have access.
Every day for the past three decades, I get up in the morning and the first thing I do is to read desperate, heartfelt messages from people who write to me hoping for a miracle. This week alone, a 14-year-old-a child-from Iraq wrote to me. He shared that he was diagnosed with leukemia and in need of interferon Alpha, a medicine his family cannot access. He provided his father’s contact information in case I have some way of helping. Then there was the 34-year-old young mother from Ukraine, diagnosed with breast cancer, sharing that the family has exhausted all their resources to procure her treatment abroad, which she still needs and will allow her to see her daughter grow up. A new kind of horrendousness was the message from a gentleman recently diagnosed with suspected colon cancer in the US; he was picked up by ICE and, upon learning of the suspicion of cancer, immediately deported to Laos, a country where he doesn’t know anyone, nor does he speak the language. A common but not less horrendous message was from a young man diagnosed with kidney cancer also in the US, who cannot afford his health insurance premium.
They write to me with hope. Since I have connections, a platform for a louder voice, they hope I can help. Let me be clear: we help thousands of people every day, every year, and each family we help has a positive ripple effect in their community. This week, for example, we were able to help a man diagnosed with breast cancer in Jamaica have access to the treatment he needs. Yes, men too can be diagnosed with breast cancer. And we were able to bring a very new and powerful medicine for a difficult rare disease to three people in Nepal. It is indeed possible to help, and help provides hope, but we need more awareness of the need; we need understanding that today is someone else, but tomorrow it is any of us. And we also need a willingness to help.
Personally, today I remember the awful feelings surrounding Max’s last days and I feel I am not doing enough. I have a voice and a platform; I have access to people who could help. These messages I receive…I need to figure out a way to amplify their voice. Like each of us, people want to be seen, to know that their lives matter to others.
Today, on Max’s Remembrance Day, I ask you to help me figure out how can we better amplify the voice of those who need help and who just want to live with hope. Because we are all in this together, and because it is by helping others that we save ourselves. At a time of darkness, acting with humanity, people helping people, will carry us forward.”
Other articles featuring Pat Garcia-Gonzalez on OncoDaily.