CHARLESTOWN Nevis, September 26th, 2011 -- Pink Lily Cancer Care breast cancer public education campaigns and advocacy for early detection has paid off. Lydia Claxton a Sports Coordinator on Nevis,who has recently returned from USA after undergoing treatment, is a beneficiary of the charity’s Breast Screening Program.
Claxton and other 99 women were trained and pre-counseled before they benefited from free mammograms offered by Pink Lily. According to the Founder and Executive Director of Pink Lily, going through the Pink Lily BSP has an advantage because women receive psychological and emotional support.
The charity also maintains proper data storage which can be useful to researchers, ministries of health and other relevant agencies.
Claxton, who has already had a biopsy, and chemotherapy but looks as fit as a spindle told Newslink that her sister gave her a BSP registration form. Apparently, her cousin Jane Thompson had died of breast cancer not long after Claxton received the form.
Claxton recalls that in her late teen age, she would feel a lump on her breast and whenever she suggested to doctors she wanted a mammogram done, she would be told to wait until she is 40 years old.
After Pink Lily had made arrangements for her mammogram at Dr Mark Hodge’s clinic, Dr Hodge recommended that she has a biopsy. Her biopsy was done at Dr Cardwell Rawlins clinic. He removed a major lump in her right breast. The lump was taken for tests to Antigua. She did not anticipate the lump to be cancerous. She received the results of the biopsy three months later. She had tested positive for Breast Cancer.
“I was taken back for a while. I did not break down. All along since I visited Dr Hodge’s clinic, I suspected that something was going to be wrong due to the lump I always felt since my teenage.” Dr Rawlins recommended a mastectomy. A visit to her brother in USA enabled her to seek a second opinion overseas at Forsyth Cancer Treatment Centre, North Carolina.
At the North Carolina treatment centre, the doctor asked her to send for the Pathologist report from Antigua. After the report was checked, Claxton went through a lumpectomy. “The doctor assured me there was no more cancer in the lymph nodes.
He took out seven lymph nodes,” Claxton said. She spent one night at the hospital and this cost her US$3,000, the plastic surgeon fee US$800, anaesthetist fee was US$3,000 while the general hospital bills cost her US$20,000. The US pathology fee was $US 1,000.
Claxton paid the surgeon, the plastic surgeon, the anesthetist and hospital a whooping US$15,000 upfront. She is clearing the hospital bill by paying by paying US$500 per month At this stage of the interview, she alerted Nevisians that they must be grateful for the free services they are offered at the local hospital and also commended efforts being made to institute a national insurance scheme.
Prior to having chemotherapy, another operation was done on her left breast to allow the insertion of a port through which the chemotherapy would be administered. This meant another payment, US3, 000. The insertion of the port procedure and related services at the hospital cost another US$12,000.
Six sessions of chemotherapy cost her US$6,000 each. She was expected to for her chemotherapy session from 11.00 a.m to 5.00 p.m. She explained the session’s lengthy duration was due to the fact that a blood test was required before every chemotherapy procedure.
She decided to go a day earlier to have blood tests done and go for chemotherapy sessions the day after and this enabled her to leave at 3.00 p.m instead of 5.00 p.m
Her white blood cells kept decreasing and this required her to get an injection 24 hours after the third chemotherapy session which cost her US$6,700. Her insurance paid 60 per cent of the chemotherapy bill thanks to her husband’s Four Seasons insurance cover. Claxton will be on tamoxifen for five years.
She is very grateful to her husband, Joseph Claxton and daughter for their courage and the encouragement they have given her and continue to give her. She also expressed gratitude to Nevis Island Administration (NIA) for making a donation towards her treatment.
Curtis Liburd bought a ticket for Claxton’s daughter to travel to see her mother. She says when she returned back to Nevis after treatment, her daughter cried. “My daughter thought cancer was an immediate death sentence but cancer is no longer a death sentence.”
She said she is grateful to the staff at the department of education who fundraised and donated EC16,000 towards her bills. Nevis Netball Association’s EC1,700 donation also came in very handy..
A retired teacher, Liz Saunders, in North Carolina who is a family member to her brother his wife and children drove her to all her chemotherapy sessions. Her special thanks go to Ingrid Dawkins and Odell Bussue, Nevisians who live in Mary Land and who sacrificed and travelled to North Carolina to see her. “I felt very supported,” Claxton said.
Claxton is very grateful to the support given to her by the public at large. She has special thanks for Pink Lily volunteers for counseling her prior to her going for the mammogram procedure. She says, Lea Cambridge-Parris personal experience helped her overcome a great percentage of her fears.
Claxton’s faith in God has enabled her to cope. She feels much closer to God than before. “I see God working in an amazing way. God placed the right people in the right place at the right time,” she said. Claxton recalled a challenging moment.
“After I had paid a myriad of bills and it was time for chemotherapy, I was informed that the procedure would cost US$12,000. I remember telling God he had to provide for me. The next day, I received a call from Sagico who called me and told me they would take care of this bill.”
“I look at life very differently. I look at the positive side of life and ignore the negative side,” Claxton said. She has a dream to do more than she does for the community. Claxton’s dream is to establish a boy’s home.
She is also determined to use her personal experience with breast cancer to encourage others to live positively and to take advantage of the Pink Lily free mammograms. “Hiding my cancer will not make it go away,” were her last words during the interview.
*************************
DISCLAIMER
This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKNVibes.com. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical error within press releases and commentaries. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of SKNVibes.com, its sponsors or advertisers
Nevis News