When receiving a cancer diagnosis, the process can be filled with emotional, financial and physical hurdles that can prevent or slow healing. Fortunately, community generosity lifts up cancer patients by addressing these barriers to care, so people like Diana Kantai can concentrate on getting better.
In 2022, Diana was working as a certified nursing assistant supporting older adults at a facility in Spokane when she began experiencing back pain. At first, she assumed it was due to the nature of her job until she noticed a lump forming on her hip. She went to the doctor and was referred to MultiCare Cancer and Blood Specialty Center in Spokane for an MRI and a CT scan.
“That’s when the cancer was confirmed — I had squamous cell carcinoma on my right hip,” Diana remembers.
As the second most common type of nonmelanoma skin cancer in the U.S., squamous cell carcinoma affects more than 1 million people like Diana each year. To treat the cancer, she began six rounds of chemotherapy followed by 30 radiation sessions.
Overcoming obstacles
At the Cancer Center, Diana met with a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals that supported her as she navigated treatment, including oncology social worker Theresa Rivera-Trujillo, BSW. As a social worker, Theresa empowers patients like Diana by ensuring their medical needs are being met and assessing how they’re dealing with their diagnosis from an emotional perspective.
As Diana navigated obstacles — including her femoral artery rupturing in February, impacting her mobility — Theresa connected her to resources through the Helping Hands program. Made possible by the generosity of donors, the Helping Hands fund supports costs that aren’t covered by insurance, such as rent, transportation needs and prescription copays that may prevent patients from healing, resulting in hospital readmissions.
“Theresa has been very helpful and very communicative — you’d think it’s only my care she’s handling because of the prompt communication,” Diana shares. “Anytime I send her an email, I get a reply almost instantly. Just the encouragement and looking for resources to help since I’m not able to work right now, and I can’t even walk because of the open wound. She organized for me, at least the first two months, to get reprieve from rent and gas, which made me at least get some good night’s rest without worrying that I might lose accommodations.”
In 2022, generous donations to MultiCare Inland Northwest Foundation’s Helping Hands fund assisted 116 oncology patients, helping with gas and grocery purchases, medical bills and more. Diana shares that the extra support has made a significant difference during this journey.
“I don’t think anybody — no matter how strong you are — would be able to go through this journey alone,” Diana explains. “It’s a very tough situation because you’re thinking of the disease, which is life threatening, and also being able to live, having a roof over your head and basics like food. With all this medication, you need nourishment and all of that’s very expensive. Helping Hands lifts a very big burden from us so what little energy we have left can be concentrated on recovery.”
While Diana continues treatment, she’s grateful for her care team and the community of donors that have lifted her up on this difficult journey.
“I don’t have enough words to express my gratitude; all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you,” Diana says. “You touched one life in a very big way. If it weren’t for your help, I would have gone into depression. I don’t think I would’ve pulled through the treatment without that help, at least to get the gas and the bills paid. Your help comes a long way to help in the recovery process. May you continue helping, because that help means life or death to some of us.”
Your generosity through the Helping Hands fund ensures your family members, friends and neighbors can access the care they need to heal. Learn more about how you can make a difference for people like Diana one gas card or electrical bill at a time at stg-foundations.mccdn.io/helpinghands.
