Between hope and despair: Improving cancer outcomes

I can still see everything in the hospital room in my mind ’s eye, the night — 13 days before Christmas — a neurologist delivered the news to my mother and me that she had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, an aggressive tumor lodged in her brain. It threw our little family into a panic and into a search for the best treatment available in the subsequent 8 mon ths before her death. Unfortunately, the tumor was diagnosed late in progression and inoperable. In 2009, there weren’t many treatment options available, and the doctors weren’t sure how to respond because not many Black patients had had similar diagnoses, so there was little information to go f orward on. Disparities resulting in a lack of data and clear information on lymphoma diagnoses in patients of color was patently clear.
Source: The Catalyst - Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Tags: Cancer Health Equity Source Type: news