Another day of above-normal temperatures in Chicago, although it was a little closer to “normal” today: Around 38º Fahrenheit when I headed out around noon. (Hey, I’m on a working vacation this week; don’t judge me.) So, I had a pretty solid four mile run. No complaints there.
But that’s not why you called.
As you know (because I won’t let you forget), the purpose of this endeavor – “this endeavor” being: training for the Illinois Marathon next spring – is to raise money through Team in Training for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. So, I figure it’s my job to convince you that you should make a donation to the cause, and what better way to do that than to show you that your hard-earned dollars will have a real-world impact. To that end, I offer this from LLS’s December 2011 “eNewsline” newsletter (which you can sign up to receive here):
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Co-Pay Assistance Fund Surpasses $100 Million
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is proud to announce that it has exceeded the $100 million mark in funds raised for its Co-Pay Assistance Program since its inception in 2007.
The program provides support for prescription drug co-pays and health insurance premiums for blood cancer patients who meet certain income requirements. Patients with private insurance, Medicare beneficiaries under Medicare Part B and/or Medicare Plan D, Medicare Supplementary Health Insurance and Medicare Advantage are eligible.
“Receiving a diagnosis of a blood cancer is overwhelming and that devastating news can be compounded by an inability to afford the treatments,” said John Walter, LLS president and CEO. “LLS’s Co-Pay Assistance Program helps alleviate this burden for eligible patients.”
Patients, caregivers, pharmacies and healthcare providers can easily submit online Co-Pay applications with a quick registration process, day or night. Your doctor, treatment provider or pharmacy can apply for the program on your behalf.
Visit www.lls.org/copay or call 877-LLS-COPAY to learn more about the program and which diseases are currently covered.
So, there you go: $100 million and counting, going directly to patients with blood cancers to defray the cost of doctor’s visits, treatment and medications. And that’s just one program LLS offers. As I’ve said before: This is about real, practical help for real human beings dealing with life threatening illnesses.
That’s why you should donate. If you’re so inclined.
(And we make it easy for you: just stop by our Team fundraising page and click away.)
Elsewhere, LLS’s Cancer Education page features a video interview with Dr. Stephen D. Nimer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center entitled “Advances in Blood Cancers: Update on Treatment for MDS,” which is the disease that afflicted my mother (in whose honor Jennifer and I are training with TNT). This passage from the transcript (.pdf file) really hits home:
One of the messages that we would like to get out is that if the therapy is tolerable, that it be given to the patients who could benefit from it. It is discouraging to hear if a patient is told, “well, you’re 75; well, you’re 80, why don’t we just observe things” when there are actually drugs available that can help these people and improve the quality of their life and the length of their life. Sometimes we even think patients may be depressed and may choose to avoid getting treated for their underlying disease, for the MDS. Doctors need to be aware of that and family members if they notice the patient is depressed, that that’s not a reason to not be treated either for this disease.
I like to point out that if you’re 75 years old, the life tables predict that you’re going to live to be about 86. So one should not avoid being treated for MDS at age 75 because you think that that’s kind of enough, you’ve lived a long enough life already. A healthy 75 year-old would be expected to live to about age 86, or another 11 years. For some of the patients with MDS, if you look at the impact of the disease, these people are not going to live that long unless they get treated. So we tend to recommend treatment for people who are in good physiologic shape.
It hits home because my mother, who was 86 at the time and had other health issues, elected to forego treatment when she was diagnosed with MDS late in the summer of 2010. I choose not to second-guess that decision, but it’s unsettling to think that anyone might make the wrong decision about treatment for an otherwise treatable condition like MDS, based in part on preconceived notions about age and his or her ability to withstand it. Rather than dwelling on the unknowable – whether my mother made the right decision in her own particular circumstances – I choose to focus on helping LLS help other individuals with blood cancers like MDS, so that they will have viable options and the information necessary to make the decisions that are right for them.
Because that’s all I can really do about it anyway.
So if you are able to help, please do.
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This is a really great post, Dave. I recently began a position with TNT in Phoenix, as the Marathon Program manager. We need more educated, inspired runners like yourself out there, spreading the word about LLS & TNT! Thank you!