{"id":267285,"date":"2013-04-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/battling-back-to-beat-the-odds\/"},"modified":"2013-04-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-12T07:00:00","slug":"battling-back-to-beat-the-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/battling-back-to-beat-the-odds\/","title":{"rendered":"Battling back to beat the odds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last September, Ashley Caddell knew she was about to be laid off. She had planned for it. She had saved money and had lined up some work with friends who were starting a new company. She even scheduled her annual checkup before she lost her health insurance \u2014 even though she wasn\u2019t due for one for another couple months \u2014 because, as a former collegiate swimmer, she was vigilant about her health. At 38, Caddell had not yet had any mammograms, which are normally issued at age 40. But during her routine physical, her doctor said he wanted to establish a baseline for when she started receiving the regular screenings, so he scheduled her for her first one. The baseline, she said, “didn\u2019t look so good.” Neither Caddell nor her doctors could feel any lumps, but the baseline image was enough to prompt the doctor to send her for further imaging. On Caddell\u2019s last day of work \u2014 the last day she had health insurance \u2014 the doctor confirmed she had two small lumps in her left breast. Since the radiologist at Scripps\u2019 Polster Breast Care Center knew about Caddell\u2019s insurance situation, he and a team of nurses worked overtime, racing to get biopsies of the lumps that same day. The following Monday, Caddell\u2019s first day of unemployment, she got the diagnosis: both lumps were malignant. “That\u2019s when the whirlwind started,” said Caddell, a La Jolla resident. “I had money saved up, but that was for while I was going to be unemployed. I never imagined I\u2019d be battling breast cancer and paying for that.” Caddell\u2019s cancer hadn\u2019t metastasized, and her surgeons felt a lumpectomy would be sufficient. After the surgery and six and a half weeks of radiation, Caddell finished her treatment on Jan. 18, though her ordeal is far from over. In December, Caddell decided to get involved with the local chapter of Susan G. Komen For the Cure. It was there, upon meeting executive director Laura Farmer Sherman, that she discovered the wealth of programs and assistance available to breast cancer patients \u2014 information that would have been helpful while she was undergoing treatment. “Basically, I didn\u2019t qualify for any financial assistance because I\u2019m not in active treatment,” she said. “But when you\u2019re undergoing treatment, you\u2019re trying to sort out what\u2019s going on. It\u2019s like a bomb has gone off in your life.” Caddell searched for financial assistance through a number of organizations: she didn\u2019t qualify through the American Cancer Society “because I\u2019m considered middle class,” nor was she able to secure any funds from Ford Motor Company\u2019s Ford Cares. The Pink Fund, which provides basic living expenses to breast cancer patients, denied Caddell because the organization stipulates that recipients must have been employed at the time of their diagnosis \u2014 a deadline Caddell missed by one day. “It\u2019s incredibly disheartening to know there was assistance sitting there and no one told me about it this whole time,” she said. “I\u2019ve been scrambling to backpedal and get any assistance I can, and at this point all I qualify for are food stamps.” The only assistance Caddell has thus far received is reimbursement for some of her out-of-pocket medical expenses through the state\u2019s Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program, which, she said, has given her “some breathing room.” As for her health, Caddell will be on the breast cancer drug tamoxifen for five years, and, due to the high chance of recurrence within the first three years, her physicians, she said, “will watch me like a hawk” during that time. “You go from being so healthy \u2014 never had surgery, never get colds. Suddenly, I\u2019ve been introduced to this voice in the back of my head,” she said. “I have to tell the oncologist about anything unusual \u2014 even a cough, an ache or a pain. I just wonder, \u2018How did I get here?\u2019” Caddell is using her experience to make sure other women don\u2019t go through something similar. A friend she made in a breast cancer support group, whose situation is similar, has benefited from her advice on programs and how to obtain assistance. And, as she gets stronger day by day, she plans to continue working with Susan G. Komen to get the word out to area hospitals and healthcare providers to educate doctors and nurses about available programs, in the hopes they\u2019ll in turn be able to provide more assistance and information to their patients. “It may sound crazy, but I\u2019m truly, truly grateful for this experience,” Caddell said, citing a quote describing cancer as a catalyst for change, which, she said, perfectly described the changes in her life that included, in addition to her health woes, a decision to leave the corporate world behind when she lost her job. “That [quote] resonates with me so much because I knew even from the beginning it would change me in profound ways. I felt like I had been doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same result. This forced me to try something different. “The bottom line is that it\u2019s all good. Breast cancer [treatment] has made massive strides over the last 20 years, 10 years \u2014 even in the last seven years. Women like myself, who are diagnosed under 40, are surviving, whereas before we weren\u2019t. I feel lucky I am where I am.” Susan G. Komen for the Cure will award $1.4 million to breast-health programs throughout San Diego County at the annual Grant Award Ceremony on April 18. Grantees include: <\/p>\n