Pat Garcia-Gonzalez, Chief Executive Officer at The Max Foundation, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Making life-saving medicines available at a hospital does not necessarily mean patients will be able to access them. For people like Manki, who lives in a remote village of Nepal, the distance to treatment centers can become an insurmountable barrier, forcing impossible choices between continuing care and financial survival.
Recently her grown son and caregiver shared that after undergoing surgery for breast cancer and seven cycles of chemotherapy, the family had exhausted all their resources by selling whatever assets they could.
When his mother’s pain persisted, they were referred to Patan Hospital where Arun Shahi, MD,MPH,ECMO, FRCP Edin enrolled her in a program of The Max Foundation. She received life-extending medicines within two days.
However, the journey to the treatment center in the capital of Kathmandu for each follow-up cost the family USD $100 round trip when her caregiver accompanied her…money the family simply didn’t have.
Instead, Manki had to endure grueling 15 to 16 hour-long bus rides, her frail body jolting over mountain roads, arriving exhausted before even seeing her doctor!
Situations like these are where the Max global community, this wonderful network of people helping people, really shines. Through generous contributions, today Manki is able to travel to Kathmandu by plane. What once was a painful daylong journey now takes just over an hour.
As her son puts it, ‘she arrives rested, not broken.’
He further shares:
My mother, a village woman who spent her life nurturing others now receives dignity in her most vulnerable time. This support has meant more than just easier travel as it has meant the difference between continuing treatment and giving up. Without it, we would have faced an impossible choice to stop treatment we cannot afford to reach, or watch our mother suffer through journeys that hurt more than healed.
Stories like Manki’s inspire us to help more people. Today through strategic investments, our network of donors and supporters allows us to extend help to 40,000 families annually. We are especially proud of a milestone we just reached together, helping 1,000 people living with breast cancer access the treatment they need. We know this is the tip of the iceberg and our ambition is to scale up and support 100,000 families every year by 2031.
We can do this. Together, today, we can alleviate suffering and prevent premature cancer deaths and give families like Manki’s dignity and hope. And because we can, we must.
And acting with humanity, we will.”
Other articles about The Max Foundation on OncoDaily.