April Gresham is standing tall today thanks to a Medicaid program that helped her afford the life-saving treatment to beat best cancer.
“(I) was flat broke, trying to take care of four boys and then they pop me with this breast cancer,” Gresham says.
She's a survivor because Medicaid paid for the life-saving and expensive treatment.
Earlier this month, the state slashed the budget that funds Medicaid -- the Department of Health and Human services. It's lost nearly half a billion dollars in funding in 2008.
Right now, f you get diagnosed at a program called the Best Chance Network -- most low-income women under 65-years-old can get their treatment for free
But starting January 1, 2009, only women 40 to 64, and those screened through the BCN, will be eligible for treatment funding.
The director of the Upstate Susan G. Komen For the Cure says young lives are at stake." f these cuts stay, lives will be lost, because many women will fall through the cracks," said Mary Lynn Donovan.
Cherokee county surgeon Dr. Maureen Burdgett says it's vital to get diagnosed and treated early. “I'm seeing much more late stage breast cancer,” Burdgett said. “It's because people are not getting their screening mammograms,” she said.
Gresham is angry because future women may not get the help she received when she needed it the most, “But when you're looking at it from a human being point of view, it just seems immoral to stop this program,” Gresham said.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement