DISABILITIES

By Daniel J. Vance

This column hits a little too close to home.

Leslie Jones is a 48-year-old editor for The Journal in Martinsburg, West Virginia, which publishes this column. On June 6, 2007, Jones awoke in the hospital after having surgery to hear her doctor suddenly explain she had advanced lung cancer.

Cancer itself isn't a disability, but it can cause a disability, such as being unable to work.

“I was devastated,” wrote Jones in an email because her condition made talking on the telephone too physically demanding. “I was put through radiation, then went to an oncologist who said chemotherapy was probably not going to be any help because the cancer had gone (untreated) for so long.” The lung cancer had spread to other parts of her body.

It hadn't been treated because for over a year doctors had misdiagnosed the cause of her shoulder and chest pain. From 2006 to her June operation, she'd had 30 x-rays, four MRIs, and two CT scans. Finally, a surgeon trying to remove what he thought was something else discovered lung cancer.

An oncologist has given Jones a year to live. She has two children and a five-year-old grandson. She has been referred to a hospice. Above all, she has lost a great deal of faith in doctors.

One bright spot has been work, where her boss and co-workers have rallied around her. “They've been absolutely wonderful and understanding,” said Jones. “They've taken up collections to help defray my insurance costs and sent numerous cards and letters. Some visited me in the hospital. They're always offering whatever they can give, such as a ride to the doctor or a trip to the store.”

Jones has been using her time well. “(Though) the oncologist gives me no hope of any help and a year or so (of life) if I'm lucky, I don't want to believe him,” she said. “With the time I have left I want to enjoy my family, especially my grandson. I've made a scrapbook for him and written him a journal of my life. He is only five, knows his grandma is dying, and it is hard on him.”

She advised people first learning of friends having advanced cancer to “just be there for them and let them talk, cry or grieve as they wish, or sit silent if that's what's needed.”

For more, see danieljvance.com [This column made possible by a grant from Blue Valley Sod, www.bluevalleysod.com]