My last nine years of employment at Huntsman Cancer Institute were the most poignant of the 45 years I worked in and around the health care industry. I did intake for newly diagnosed cancer patients, taking calls from either the patients themselves or the physicians who referred them.
Two of those patients still bring tears to my eyes when I think of their stories. Both were women who were diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer only after bone metastases caused “pathological fractures.” One woman died a few days after she was referred to Huntsman and the other endured aggressive treatment for nearly a year before dying.