Dianne's Story from CA

Am I Whining? Do I (Don’t I) Deserve Assistance?

Where have all the millions gone?

Prior to becoming concerned about the financial aspect of Cancer, when I was diagnosed on March 8, 2008, I developed a “plan of battle,” to fight this enemy as though I were laying in for a military siege; Cancer is definitely an enemy within. Alexander the Great’s seven-month battle in Tyre became my model; it was his most difficult military feat and my battle looks as though it will take a similar amount of time. At age 23, Alexander readied for battle by erecting barriers, lay in stores, gathered his troops, negotiated for support from surrounding kings and won the battle.

I followed his lead . . . my “kings” being my family, friends, co-workers and all the fine people at Kaiser . . . this action helped me move forward calmly and strongly. However, within weeks, my co-pays exceeded $1400. My modest nest-egg went the way of those Chinese fossil eggs considered delicacies: it shriveled. When seeking minimal assistance, I am told that I “make too much money.”

During my tenure as Executive Director of a successful fundraiser staged by a San Francisco major media company, donations exceeded $25 million from inception in 1986 through my departure in 2002. The premise was that one-time critical needs grants were made to San Francisco Bay Area Families to help them through a rough spot. Unfortunately, too many grants were made to multi-generational welfare families already receiving services (ranging from $20,000 to an appalling $65,000+ per year in services for one non-working grandmother raising her two grandchildren. That family received Catholic-School tuition/uniforms, food stamps, housing, etc. She had a superb case worker.)

The decision as to who gets what from fundraisers disturbs me. That decision-making-reality has just hit home: I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer on March 8, 2008, had a lumpectomy on March 31, went back to work on Friday, April 4, back in for surgery on Wednesday April 9, stayed home Thursday and Friday, and went back to work on Monday, April 14.

Like many of the well-regarded organizations managing such funds, social service entities are stuck in their own dogma: they fund people they understand, which are often people who have been on various public programs for decades. They can make exceptions. But do they? This system confuses me.

My immigrant great-grandparents, grandparents and my parents always worked, sometimes holding down two jobs each to keep us fed, warm and safe in America – we are German Jew and Irish Catholic and came to these shores to save our lives. I have worked every single day of my life: part-time since age 9 and full time since age 15 (and often at two jobs to cover living expenses, particularly when raising my daughter on my own). I have never received welfare. I always go to work: One morning, after a night of being threatened at knife-point while standing naked, I arrived at work at 9 a.m . . . wearing sunglasses. My employers never did know what was up. They offered me a wonderful new job in a beautiful remote location.

-At 7:30 a.m., slipped on ice on my front stairs, cracked bones in my foot, took the bus to work, got there at 9 a.m. and took a cab to Kaiser at 5 p.m., Straggled in at 9:30 a.m. after a falling gas pump cracked my big toe and I had to visit Kaiser to get a brace.
-Worked full time through Tuberculosis (didn’t know I had it)Worked until my doctor told me to take maternity leave two-weeks prior to my daughter being born.

I also volunteer for animal rights organizations by building websites at no charge to help with their efforts: www.AmazonAnimalOrphanage.org, and I volunteered to build a site for a cancer survivor who started her own health spa in Rohnert Park, California: www.lepapillondayspa.com/

On May 22 I started chemotherapy; radiation treatment is down the road. Although I have been told that working throughout is impossible, I’ve learned that some women have done so, and I must to cover expenses. While I have excellent employers, it is one-person office and I neither have medical leave nor sufficient funds to cover expenses.

SSI won’t begin to cover the overhead of a person living in Marin County. And even though I’m considered near “poverty level” given Marin’s cost of living, and even though some of my funds go to help keep other family members safe and sound, there are no funds for anything other than a quite lovely wig (thank you American Cancer Society and private donors through Kaiser Foundation).

With interest, I view the Susan G. Komen Foundation: According to BusinessWeek.com, the Foundation raised more than $30 million in 2005 from the sales of pink products alone through cooperating corporations. I appreciate this creativity, but as one who has witnessed rules around those funds, I wonder about their use.

What is the math on that? Will any of the “pink product funds” be used to directly underwrite, say, a middle class/middle income person who has worked every day, supported their own family, raised children, and now could use $1,000-$2,000 a month for several months?