Help sought for cancer patients, alternative treatments

By John Cook, Stevensville

Some of you may know me or my wife, Patricia. We’ve lived in Stevensville for almost twenty years. Brought our son up here, watched him marry a wonderful girl from the valley, and are now enjoying the two grandchildren they have given us. Some of you may also know my wife has been battling a stage 4 breast cancer for over six years, which is why I write this letter.

Recently, an event took place which forced me to examine my perceptions about cancer treatments in America. You see, until a few weeks ago, I, like so many Americans, was living under the false assumption that my wife was receiving the best medical care a person could get. After all, we both had health insurance, something that was costing us nearly $25,000 a year to maintain as we are small business owners and have to provide our own insurance. And, I’d always felt at those prices, we should be getting something for our money.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that not only was my wife not getting the best care possible, she was actually being given a treatment program with little to no chance of success and with side effects so grave she was dying in front of my eyes, not from the cancer, but from the chemo therapy treatments she was being given!

And, this is when my life began to change.

As I began to question her treatments, I started looking into the whole history of cancer treatments in America. I began discovering facts. Facts such as in 2011, nearly 600,000 people in America died of cancer. Facts like, ‘for a metastasized cancer, the odds of success with a protocol of chemo therapy is about 2%… the same as a protocol of placebo!’ And, facts like in 2007 (the most recent year figures were available) cancer treatments in America accounted for an estimated $103 billion in revenue for someone.

And, the one fact I kept coming back to was the one that told me my wife’s chances of obtaining a successful remission of her cancer, using conventional protocols, was about 2%. And, I began to wonder, is this the ‘best’ our country has to offer?

And, as I began to look around, I found treatment options that offered recovery rates, for the same cancer as my wife’s (stage 4, metastasized breast) of exponentially higher odds. Some as much as nearly 60%. And, I found myself wondering, why am I keeping my wife here? Taking treatments that both our medical community as well as insurance companies have known since the 1950’s: if taken off the chemo, invariably the cancer will return. Leaving the patient with little to no option, other than staying on a regiment of chemo therapy and opening themselves up to a life of little more than trips to the bathroom, or days spent in bed, to weak to do little else, awaiting their ultimate fate, death.

I would hope you can understand my frustration when, finding these alternative treatments that offered a much higher chance of success, I was informed by our insurance company that since they are not FDA approved treatments, they will not be covered as legitimate expenses! And, I ask you: If it were your wife, child, or grandchild, would you leave your loved ones in a treatment program that offers little other than a lifetime of pain and suffering, or take them where there is some hope?

For me, there was no option. And, I’d love to tell you I made my decision because money was no object, but I didn’t. I struggle to make ends meet the same as most of us that live here in the Bitterroot. No, I did this simply because I love my wife, and want what is best for her!

Unfortunately, as I realized my wife was not getting the best, or even almost the best treatments possible, I also realized she was probably not alone. And, like my wife, there were probably other cancer patients out there, knowing there were better options for them, but unable to afford such treatments.

And, I decided to do something about it. Together with a few other individuals, we started the Bitterroot Hope Foundation. Its goal is to provide financial assistance to those our medical community refers to as “terminal” cancer patients. Patients that refuse to become a statistic and are looking for alternative treatments. The first two people going to these alternative treatment programs are my wife and a young man from Missoula, Brian Sather, who has committed his life to not becoming a statistic so he can be there for his three year old daughter as she grows.

It is the belief of our organization that if all “terminal” cancer patients were able to take advantage of various “alternative” treatment options, that 2% survival rate of chemotherapy protocols would quickly change. By sending patients to various treatment programs it is our belief that our knowledge of what does, or does not, work on various forms of cancer will be greatly increased. And, by funneling all information into a central data system that can analyze results we will shortly have that ‘answer to cancer’ we have been looking for far too long.

But, for our foundation to become a success it is going to take a lot of help from people like you and me, ordinary people who have loved ones presently battling cancer or that have already lost a loved one to this deadly disease. It is time for us – cancer patients and their loved ones – to make our voices heard. No longer will we remain silent as those we love die in front of our eyes, content in the belief we had no options!

We do have options; there are hundreds of them out there. And, if we as a community can show that we stand behind these two brave souls, and will support their efforts to find (and partake) of treatment options that offer more than a 2% chance of survival, and we can show the rest of the nation what a small community will do to offer hope to our sick and dying, then perhaps there is hope for the thousands of individuals across this nation, and around the world, that die every day at the hands of cancer or the chemo therapies they are forced to undergo under our present system of laws and insurance regulations!

Help us, the Bitterroot Hope Foundation, find an answer to cancer. Help us allow Brian and Patricia the hope of a better life. Help us show the world that at least here, in Montana, where small town values are still applauded, we want our loved ones to get the best possible care, not just that which our government or insurance companies decide are best for us.

Go to our website, Bitterroothopefoundation.org, and donate both prayers for Brian and Patricia as well as money. They both need your support. It is estimated their treatments are going to cost upwards of $100,000 each, yes, a lot of money, unless you compare it to a year of chemotherapy which can cost easily upwards of $150,000. And, unfortunately, neither of these folks have a lot of time to waste. Do not let either of them become a statistic simply for financial reasons.

Thank you in advance for your help. Our fate, and ultimately the fate of thousands of sick and dying human beings across America, may very well lay in your hands. Show the nation what we in the Bitterroot will do for our loved ones and force the rest of the nation to live up to the example set by the people that call the Bitterroot home. Donate whatever you can, and give Brian and Patricia the hope they need to carry on their fight.

For both Brian and Patricia, as well as myself, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Our prayers are for a day when cancer no longer claims the lives of any of our loved ones.