Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of The
Rose, a Houston based breast cancer organization. I am Dorothy Weston Gibbons, Chief Executive
Officer and co-founder of The Rose. We
are in the business of saving lives, serving over 30,000 women each year with
9,600 uninsured. Since 1986 our work has meant access to treatment for
thousands of uninsured women.
In our
world, the quiet ones often get lost.
While headlines are screaming about alleged improprieties within three
grants, the recipients of the prevention dollars dispensed by Cancer Prevention
Research Institute of Texas are easy to overlook. These are working women, often
holding down two jobs yet they still earn less than the 200% poverty rate. They juggle so many demands, that their
personal health needs comes last. I see these quiet women who work long and
hard and still don’t have enough for insurance or even the cash price of a
mammogram. They are used to being lost
in the shuffle.
But they aren't lost or overlooked
at The Rose. We hear their stories. When
I co-founded The Rose we didn’t have October breast cancer months and pink
ribbons adorning everything from t-shirts to perfume. I would like to think after 27 years, the
situation might have changed for the uninsured, but it hasn’t. Women die because of lack of money and
access.
As a voice for so many, I must say
that in the midst of the uncertainties, these are the things I KNOW to be certain:
-
Because
of CPRIT funds, a total of 4,345 women
received care since our first award in March of 2010. (2,739 in the first cycle
and 1,606 were in the 3 quarters of this
year.)
-
I
know that of those 124 cancers that were
diagnosed, 43 were first time
mammograms and more than half were diagnosed at stage 2 or below. That’s good news in the breast cancer world.
-
I
know that 56 of the 124, over 45%,
of those cancers were found in women who were under fifty years old.
-
I
am certain that without CPRIT, not one
of those women would have found care.
-
I
know that those women we diagnosed came from
throughout Southeast Texas:
§ 88 of those diagnosed women live in
Harris County
§ 7 were from Brazoria County
§ 8 were from Fort Bend County
§ 8 from Galveston County
§ 1 from Liberty, our most difficult
case
§ 2 from Matagorda County
§ 7 from Montgomery county
§ 2 from Waller County
§ 1 from Wharton County
-
I know the names of the women who
did not have the money for gas or parking at the Medical Center who were able
to get to their treatment because of
CPRIT transportation funding.
-
I know that CPRIT made it possible
for The Rose to serve to rural Texas
and now our mobile vans have sites in 24
counties from Matagorda, up through Burleson, across Brazos to San Jacinto and
up through San Augustine to Shelby.
-
I know that if CPRIT funds are cut, over 4,000 women in the next two years
will not be served.
While CPRIT doesn’t cover treatment,
it provided FIVE TIMES as many woman preventive services in that first year
than BCCS did. Imagine the impact it is making. When it comes to state
supported programs BCCS and CPRIT are all we have—yet it still reached only one
fourth of the total uninsured women who turn to us each year. Without those
funds, they would not have been served.
I share in
the concern, no the outrage, that even one dollar of funding was not used
appropriately. I am thankful for the
wisdom and determination in fixing what is wrong with CPRIT.
Because I
know what CPRIT has meant to the women of Texas and as the voice for so many
voiceless women, I implore you: We
cannot afford a delay in prevention dollars … not when lives are at stake.
Maria*. was only 38 years old when she first found
the lump in her breasts but with no insurance she waited. She was among the first women we diagnosed in
February 2010 with CPRIT funding her mammogram and diagnostic work-up. A single mother of three, she was alone when
we told that her she had cancer and she tried everything to keep it from her
family. Her twin daughters were turning
15, their quinceanera was planned for May and she didn’t want anything to ruin
their celebration. Yet when her 17 year
old son, now man of the house, inadvertently discovered what was happening, he
insisted that his mother move forward with treatment. She had the most beautiful head of hair and
losing her breast was hard enough but facing her daughters big day bald headed
was just too much. First we got her into
treatment through MBCCS, then we fitted her in a perfect new wig and
prosthesis. She never stopped being
beautiful to her children, but she looked especially radiant that day in
May. She will share many events in the future
with her children.
There are so many Marias, and
Anitas and Janes waiting for service. It
is for them that I ask for your serious consideration in the continued full
funding of CPRIT.
*Name changed for privacy purposes.
*Name changed for privacy purposes.
