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Help Suzanne Aucoin
June 4, 2007 - The St. Catharines Standard
St. Catharines Standard (ON)
Front, Monday, June 4, 2007, p. A1
Suzanne's story
Part 18
Suzanne again paying for care in the U.S.
Cancer fighter hopes Ontario will cover some of the $100,000 cost
PETER DOWNS
It's a road she knows all too well.
Unable to get a form of cancer treatment here in Ontario to prolong her
life, Suzanne Aucoin is again looking to the United States to get care.
She plans to fly to a hospital in North Carolina Tuesday to receive a
specialized form of radiation therapy not commercially available in Ontario.
And the Port Dalhousie woman is again dipping into her own funds to cover
the expensive tab - roughly $100,000 US - for the treatment.
But she's also hopeful Ontario's Health Ministry will pay some of her U.S.
medical costs through its out-of-country health benefits program - a program
being reviewed by the ministry after its mishandling of a previous funding
application by Aucoin for a different treatment.
Paying for the U.S. radiation therapy will wipe out a medical trust fund
generated for Aucoin through donations by friends and supporters.
But her concerns about that are taking a back seat to her desperate fight to
slow down the cancer that's trying to kill her.
"I have my list of worries so complete, I don't want to add money to it. I
try not to worry about it too much and trust that it will get sorted out,"
she said Friday.
Aucoin, 36, who has been living with terminal colon cancer for more than
three years, will receive a medical procedure called selective internal
radiation therapy.
The treatment, also known as SIR-Spheres, delivers millions of microscopic
spheres of radiation directly to liver tumours.
Conventional radiation therapy hits a general area of the body and can cause
severe damage to nearby tissues and organs.
Aucoin's doctors have ruled out surgery and conventional radiation to try to
reduce the size of the large tumour on her liver.
Aucoin said other patients treated with SIR-Spheres have seen their liver
tumours shrink and remain stable for about a year.
"Beyond surgery, I think this is the next best option in terms of efficacy,"
she said.
Aucoin will be treated with the radiation Wednesday at WakeMed Heath Centre
in Raleigh, N.C.
The procedure will be completed in one day, but she will remain in the city
for a couple of additional days so her condition can be monitored.
"I'm radioactive for 48 hours. It's a little Homer Simpsonish," said Aucoin,
who will travel with parents Norm and Janet.
Earlier this year, Ontario's ombudsman blasted the provincial Health
Ministry for its mistreatment of Aucoin and its flawed out-of-country
health-coverage program.
Acting on the ombudsman's recommendations, the ministry agreed to repay
Aucoin about $76,000 she spent on the cancer drug Erbitux in New York and
Ontario, as well as the legal costs she racked up trying to recover her
money.
The government also announced the review of its out-of-country drug-coverage
program to make sure other patients don't get caught in the bureaucratic red
tape that snagged Aucoin.
The review hasn't yet been completed.
Aucoin's Hamilton oncologist hasn't yet submitted an application for her to
receive out-of-country OHIP coverage for the radiation therapy she'll
receive in North Carolina.
However, she's hopeful the province will share some of the expense.
She has also applied to the company that developed the treatment - SIRtex -
for financial assistance.
Aucoin, who's on leave from her position as chaplain at Denis Morris High
School in St. Catharines, said she and her supporters are also planning more
fundraisers to boost her medical trust fund.
"You've always got to plan the next step and have funds available for what's
coming down the pipeline," she said.
pdowns@stcatharinesstandard.ca
St. Catharines Standard (ON)
Front, Monday, June 4, 2007, p. A1
Suzanne's story
Part 18
Suzanne again paying for care in the U.S.
Cancer fighter hopes Ontario will cover some of the $100,000 cost
PETER DOWNS
It's a road she knows all too well.
Unable to get a form of cancer treatment here in Ontario to prolong her
life, Suzanne Aucoin is again looking to the United States to get care.
She plans to fly to a hospital in North Carolina Tuesday to receive a
specialized form of radiation therapy not commercially available in Ontario.
And the Port Dalhousie woman is again dipping into her own funds to cover
the expensive tab - roughly $100,000 US - for the treatment.
But she's also hopeful Ontario's Health Ministry will pay some of her U.S.
medical costs through its out-of-country health benefits program - a program
being reviewed by the ministry after its mishandling of a previous funding
application by Aucoin for a different treatment.
Paying for the U.S. radiation therapy will wipe out a medical trust fund
generated for Aucoin through donations by friends and supporters.
But her concerns about that are taking a back seat to her desperate fight to
slow down the cancer that's trying to kill her.
"I have my list of worries so complete, I don't want to add money to it. I
try not to worry about it too much and trust that it will get sorted out,"
she said Friday.
Aucoin, 36, who has been living with terminal colon cancer for more than
three years, will receive a medical procedure called selective internal
radiation therapy.
The treatment, also known as SIR-Spheres, delivers millions of microscopic
spheres of radiation directly to liver tumours.
Conventional radiation therapy hits a general area of the body and can cause
severe damage to nearby tissues and organs.
Aucoin's doctors have ruled out surgery and conventional radiation to try to
reduce the size of the large tumour on her liver.
Aucoin said other patients treated with SIR-Spheres have seen their liver
tumours shrink and remain stable for about a year.
"Beyond surgery, I think this is the next best option in terms of efficacy,"
she said.
Aucoin will be treated with the radiation Wednesday at WakeMed Heath Centre
in Raleigh, N.C.
The procedure will be completed in one day, but she will remain in the city
for a couple of additional days so her condition can be monitored.
"I'm radioactive for 48 hours. It's a little Homer Simpsonish," said Aucoin,
who will travel with parents Norm and Janet.
Earlier this year, Ontario's ombudsman blasted the provincial Health
Ministry for its mistreatment of Aucoin and its flawed out-of-country
health-coverage program.
Acting on the ombudsman's recommendations, the ministry agreed to repay
Aucoin about $76,000 she spent on the cancer drug Erbitux in New York and
Ontario, as well as the legal costs she racked up trying to recover her
money.
The government also announced the review of its out-of-country drug-coverage
program to make sure other patients don't get caught in the bureaucratic red
tape that snagged Aucoin.
The review hasn't yet been completed.
Aucoin's Hamilton oncologist hasn't yet submitted an application for her to
receive out-of-country OHIP coverage for the radiation therapy she'll
receive in North Carolina.
However, she's hopeful the province will share some of the expense.
She has also applied to the company that developed the treatment - SIRtex -
for financial assistance.
Aucoin, who's on leave from her position as chaplain at Denis Morris High
School in St. Catharines, said she and her supporters are also planning more
fundraisers to boost her medical trust fund.
"You've always got to plan the next step and have funds available for what's
coming down the pipeline," she said.
pdowns@stcatharinesstandard.ca