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Help Suzanne Aucoin
June 22, 2007 - The St. Catharines Standard
St. Catharines Standard (ON)
Local, Friday, June 22, 2007, p. A3
Cancer treatment 'worth every penny'
By PETER DOWNS
Standard Staff
Part 19
The diagnostic scans will ultimately provide the proof.
One way or the other, the evidence should be there.
But Suzanne Aucoin believes she knows what the images will show.
She can feel it with each breath she takes.
The pressure on her lungs has lifted. And with it, the wheeze that had
settled into each laboured breath.
The deep fatigue that came with the constant struggle for more air has also
begun to subside.
All signs, Aucoin believes, that the large tumour on her liver has begun to
shrink.
Signs the specialized radiation therapy she paid for at a U.S. hospital two
weeks ago may already be working.
"I'm 99-per-cent sure they'll see shrinkage, just because I'm breathing
better already," she said Thursday from the home in Port Dalhousie she
shares with her parents.
"I'm a different person. I'm not anxious any more. I'm sleeping better. I
can focus on other things now. I'm not having meltdowns every day."
Aucoin, 36, who has lived with terminal colon cancer for more than three
years, travelled to a hospital in North Carolina two weeks ago to receive a
specialized form of radiation therapy not commercially available in Ontario.
The procedure - selective internal radiation therapy or 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 the right side of her liver.
But as it grew, it began to push against her diaphragm, which in turn pushed
against her lungs, causing breathing problems.
"I've never been that sick before. That's the worse my cancer has ever
been," Suzanne said of the weeks leading up to her cross-border medical
journey.
Determined to get the liver tumour in check and prolong her life, Aucoin put
her faith in the targeted radiation therapy.
With her parents - Norm and Janet - at her side, she underwent the procedure
June 6 at WakeMed Heath Center in Raleigh, N.C.
Just hours after doctors injected the tiny spheres of radiation into the
blood flowing to her liver, Aucoin believes she could feel it attacking the
organ.
"Back at the hotel I decided to have a nap and when I lay down I went, 'Mom,
I'm not wheezing anymore. I can breathe normally. Oh my God, it's working
already," she said.
About 36 hours after the procedure she also began to feel sharp pain
surrounding the liver - a symptom doctors told her to expect as portions of
the tumour began dying off.
A CT scan in about two weeks is expected to show whether the tumour has
begun to shrink.
The radiation can continue to cause shrinkage for as long as 10 months,
Aucoin said.
Promising as it sounds, the specialized medical procedure is not cheap.
Aucoin said she expects to be billed $80,000 to $100,000 US for the
radiation therapy and associated medical costs.
The tab will wipe out a trust fund generated for Aucoin through donations
from friends and supporters.
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.
Earlier this year, Ontario's ombudsman blasted the 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 state
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 submitted an application for her to receive
out-of-country OHIP coverage for the radiation therapy she received in North
Carolina.
A ministry spokesman wasn't able to tell The Standard Thursday whether
Ontario has paid for patients to get the procedure in the U.S.
But Aucoin said she's trying to focus mainly on her health, rather than
worry about finances.
"The bills will come and we'll figure it out when they come in," she said.
"I know I feel better than I did before the procedure and I know that it was
a good decision.
"It was worth every penny."
St. Catharines Standard (ON)
Local, Friday, June 22, 2007, p. A3
Cancer treatment 'worth every penny'
By PETER DOWNS
Standard Staff
Part 19
The diagnostic scans will ultimately provide the proof.
One way or the other, the evidence should be there.
But Suzanne Aucoin believes she knows what the images will show.
She can feel it with each breath she takes.
The pressure on her lungs has lifted. And with it, the wheeze that had
settled into each laboured breath.
The deep fatigue that came with the constant struggle for more air has also
begun to subside.
All signs, Aucoin believes, that the large tumour on her liver has begun to
shrink.
Signs the specialized radiation therapy she paid for at a U.S. hospital two
weeks ago may already be working.
"I'm 99-per-cent sure they'll see shrinkage, just because I'm breathing
better already," she said Thursday from the home in Port Dalhousie she
shares with her parents.
"I'm a different person. I'm not anxious any more. I'm sleeping better. I
can focus on other things now. I'm not having meltdowns every day."
Aucoin, 36, who has lived with terminal colon cancer for more than three
years, travelled to a hospital in North Carolina two weeks ago to receive a
specialized form of radiation therapy not commercially available in Ontario.
The procedure - selective internal radiation therapy or 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 the right side of her liver.
But as it grew, it began to push against her diaphragm, which in turn pushed
against her lungs, causing breathing problems.
"I've never been that sick before. That's the worse my cancer has ever
been," Suzanne said of the weeks leading up to her cross-border medical
journey.
Determined to get the liver tumour in check and prolong her life, Aucoin put
her faith in the targeted radiation therapy.
With her parents - Norm and Janet - at her side, she underwent the procedure
June 6 at WakeMed Heath Center in Raleigh, N.C.
Just hours after doctors injected the tiny spheres of radiation into the
blood flowing to her liver, Aucoin believes she could feel it attacking the
organ.
"Back at the hotel I decided to have a nap and when I lay down I went, 'Mom,
I'm not wheezing anymore. I can breathe normally. Oh my God, it's working
already," she said.
About 36 hours after the procedure she also began to feel sharp pain
surrounding the liver - a symptom doctors told her to expect as portions of
the tumour began dying off.
A CT scan in about two weeks is expected to show whether the tumour has
begun to shrink.
The radiation can continue to cause shrinkage for as long as 10 months,
Aucoin said.
Promising as it sounds, the specialized medical procedure is not cheap.
Aucoin said she expects to be billed $80,000 to $100,000 US for the
radiation therapy and associated medical costs.
The tab will wipe out a trust fund generated for Aucoin through donations
from friends and supporters.
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.
Earlier this year, Ontario's ombudsman blasted the 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 state
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 submitted an application for her to receive
out-of-country OHIP coverage for the radiation therapy she received in North
Carolina.
A ministry spokesman wasn't able to tell The Standard Thursday whether
Ontario has paid for patients to get the procedure in the U.S.
But Aucoin said she's trying to focus mainly on her health, rather than
worry about finances.
"The bills will come and we'll figure it out when they come in," she said.
"I know I feel better than I did before the procedure and I know that it was
a good decision.
"It was worth every penny."